Cupid
by Just Another Fanatic
Summary: What happens when Magneto recruits a mutant with the power to make someone fall in or out of love? And how does this mutant tie into his master plan to build a mutant army? M for safety. Various pairings and new characters. Name changed.
1. Nose Gloss

Nose Gloss

Kitty Pryde found it weird that she was thrilled to be home for the summer. After all the anti-Mutant business and basically the whole town of Bayville discovering that Xavier's Institute was somewhat of a mutant sanctuary, she couldn't really go anywhere in town without eyes and whispers following her. But, now, a few months had passed and she was home, where no one but her parents knew she was a mutant… well her parents and a certain other mutant that had been haunting her dreams and hanging about in her mind for several months.

"Kitty," one her friends, Rebecca Stein, exclaimed when Kitty opened the door of her house. They were friends from temple as well as school and close neighbors. Rebecca had dark brown, curly hair that fell to her midneck, was slightly shorter than Kitty, and spent a good deal of her time at a local kick-boxing club, or shopping for new heels. "I got my driver's license! Wanna go shopping at the Glen?"

Kitty smiled. Ah, to be home in Deerfield and a short twenty minutes (and that was during bad traffic) from a nice, large shopping center. "Let me get my purse!"

"So, I was walking over to your place, and you'll never guess who I saw," Rebecca said once both girls were buckled into her car.

"Who?" Kitty asked as she pulled the mirror down and checked her hair.

Rebecca replied, just as Kitty brought some lip gloss to her lips, "That hottie who disappeared a while back, Lance Alvers." Granted, Kitty's lip gloss ended up on her nose.

"Lance?" Kitty asked as she wiped lip gloss off her nose. "On our block?"

"I know, strange," Rebecca said mistaking Kitty's concern for surprise. After all, they hadn't spoke in person in a long while it had been several weeks since their last phone conversation. Most of the girls' interaction since Kitty had started at Xavier's was through IM conversation. "I've never seen him in our neighborhood before. But you have to admit, he is a hottie so he can stick around as long as he likes."

Kitty turned to her friend. "Did you, by any chance, say anything to him?"

Rebecca blushed slightly, which meant she had. "I might have mentioned I was headed toward the Glen, and maybe invited him to come. He said he had things to do."

_Things to do?_ Kitty wondered what that meant. However, she knew to pursue would be suspicious to Rebecca. "Did I tell you that Mike asked me out yesterday?"

"No!" Kitty shrieked. "Like, on a date or to be his girlfriend?"

"Both!" Rebecca claimed happily.

Meanwhile, at Charles Xavier's Institute:

"Ororo, I've picked up the signs of a new mutant," Xavier said to his colleague. "She's strong, but I don't believe she has learned any control over her abilities."

"Would you like me to suit up as well, Professor?" Scott eagerly asked as he was currently the only other occupant of the house. Rogue was shopping, Dr. McCoy was collecting the last of his possessions from his house, and Logan… who knew where Logan was. Plus, the Professor always likes to bring along one of his students to help reason with teenagers who may be reluctant to accept the Professor's help.

"There is no need, Scott," Xavier said. "As it turns out, Kitty is a very close distant to the girl at the moment. I am calling her to ask her to find her before I will even be near."

Scott sighed. The Professor was leaving him alone in a giant mansion.

"Come along, Ororo," Xavier said. Storm nodded and led the way to the jet hanger.

Kitty and Rebecca were walking from the car when Kitty's phone began to ring. Kitty quickly pulled it out, surprised to see the Professor was calling.

"Who is it?" Rebecca asked.

Kitty held up a finger, meaning she needed to answer the call immediately. "Hello?" Kitty asked.

"Kitty, you are in close proximity of a new mutant with strong abilities," Xavier explained to her over the phone. "Storm and I are on our way there now, but you're no more than a few hundred feet away."

Kitty looked around. There were hundreds of people milling around the Glen. "Professor, there is no way I could pick her out of a crowd here. I'm at a shopping center." Rebecca began giving her a weird look.

"Her name is Arwen Westbrook," the Professor began describing her. "She'll be about your age and just about an inch or so taller than you. Long brown hair, brown eyes. She's Jewish, like you –"

"That doesn't really help," Kitty said rolling her eyes.

"Her home address is in Palatine," the professor continued. "It is important that you find her before Magneto or the Brotherhood."

"I'll try my best, Professor," Kitty said. She surveyed the surrounding area, then looked at Rebecca. "You wouldn't happen to know a girl named Arwen Westbrook from Palatine, would you?"

Rebecca cocked her head. "Uh, no. Was that a professor of yours?"

"Maybe," Kitty admitted shyly. She kept a sharp eye, looking for any sign of a girl from Palatine, or Magneto, or one of Magneto's cronies, or anyone from the Brotherhood, which she realized included Lance.

"I'm totally confused," Rebecca said. "A professor of yours calls and now you seem to think you'll find a Arwen Westbrook, who you don't seem to even know, here, even though she lives in Palatine."

Kitty looked at her friend and sighed. "Can I tell you a secret?" Kitty asked. Rebecca nodded. "And you have to promise me, one hundred percent that you won't freak out, or make a noise, or tell anyone, not even Mike or a stuffed animal in case someone over hears you."

Rebecca blinked. "What? No pinky swear?"

"This is totally beyond the pinky swear," Kitty said.

"Shoot away," Rebecca smiled.

"This is a serious subject," Kitty said. "If you're not going to act serious, I'm not going to take you seriously."

"What, did you go to boarding school or military school?"

"Rebecca!"

"I'm sorry, I swear on my life."

Kitty looked for a secluded corner, but couldn't find one outside, so she dragged Rebecca into the fairly empty ULTA, and from there, into an empty section near the nail polish and made her crouch so they looked like they were looking at the colors.

"What would you say if I told you I know where Lance Alvers has been the past several months?" Kitty asked quietly.

"I'd be jealous," Rebecca said. "But, now, I'm completely lost."

Kitty held a hand up. "Lance and I have something in common," Kitty began again once Rebecca had quieted down. "We've both been attending Bayville High School this past year."

Rebecca cocked her head. "Lance went to your boarding school?" she asked.

"No… well, briefly, but that doesn't matter," Kitty whispered even quieter. "Both Lance and I are…" Kitty braced herself for what she was about to say. "Mutants."

"WHAT!!" Rebecca jumped up and shrieked.

"Rebecca!" Kitty snapped at her for breaking her promise. Of course now the whole store was staring at the two of them.

Rebecca looked around, and realizing that there was no one there that they knew, quickly said purposely to be overheard, "Maybe this isn't the best place to be telling me how you lost your virginity, Kitty."

Kitty's eyes shot wide, but the store seemed to return to their own business. At least Rebecca hadn't outed her to the public. Rebecca crouched next to Kitty again and asked, "For serious?"

Kitty looked at Rebecca. "You don't think any differently of me now, do you?"

"I think you're about 110 percent cooler," Rebecca said. "What can you do?"

Kitty checked to make sure no one was watching them and that there were no cameras on her, then said, "I can phase through things." She then reached down into the ground quickly.

"And how do you know about Lance?" Rebecca asked. "What can he do?"

"He kind of joined a group called the Brotherhood, which is basically the rivalry to the group that I'm in," Kitty explained. "And he can cause earthquakes. But that's now what is important right now. My Professor can sense where we are, and has just informed me that a powerful girl –"

"Arwen?" Rebecca asked.

Kitty nodded. "She's really close, so we have to find her before the bad guys do. Got me?"

Rebecca nodded. The two stood up, and were walking toward the exit when they heard a cashier say, "Thank you for your purchase, Miss Westbrook." Both girls stopped and looked at one another before Kitty turned to look at the girl at the check-out counter. Just slightly taller than her, about her age, brown hair, brown eyes, and a small silver Star of David lying on top of her blouse.

"Well, that was convenient," Rebecca said.

The girl slowly began toward them, but passed them headed for the exit. Kitty shook herself out of her daze from her luck. "Excuse me," she said approaching the girl. "You wouldn't by any chance be Arwen Westbrook of Palatine, would you?"

The girl stared at her. "How do you know that?"

"I think we have a few things to talk about," Kitty said.

"Not in this store, girls," the manager said pointing toward the door.

Five minutes later found the three girls in a booth at Noodles & Company. Kitty chose a table in the back where no one else was sitting so they wouldn't be overheard. She was surprised that Arwen had agreed to join them for lunch, considering she didn't even know them.

Kitty sat facing the window so she could watch for other mutants that might be looking for Arwen. Rebecca had chosen the seat next to Kitty. "I'm Kitty Pryde, and this is my friend Rebecca Stein."

"Nice to meet you," Arwen said.

Kitty took a deep breath and leaned forward, "I know you're a mutant, Arwen."

Arwen's eyes grew wide. "You can't tell a soul, please. Aside from the three of us, no one else knows except my best friend."

"It's too late for that, Arwen," Kitty said. "I attend a special institute for people like us, and my professor can sense our population. He and another teacher are headed here from New York right not to speak with you and your parents about attending our school."

"Look, I don't want people to know," Arwen said. "I'm not even sure how you found out."

"My professor must have sensed you using your ability," Kitty said.

Rebecca leaned forward and asked, "By the way, what is your ability."

Arwen looked between the two girls. "You tell me first and then I'll tell you."

"Oh, I'm not one," Rebecca said. "Though it would be awesome."

Kitty sighed. "I phase through solid objects," she finally said in just above a whisper.

"Hello, girls," their waiter approached their table. "Someone order a Mac and Cheese?" Arwen raised her hand and the waiter placed the Mac and Cheese in front of her. "And you two both got the buttered noodles. Who got the shrimp add-in?" Rebecca raised her hand. The waited placed the bowl in front of her, and the other in front of Kitty. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No thank you," Kitty said. The other two girls nodded. Once the waiter was a good distance away, she turned back to Arwen.

"Things happen when I let music into my head," she said. "I really can't control it or what will happen."

Kitty nodded. "I felt the same way when I first discovered my ability. But, the Professor…" Kitty stopped when she spotted Lance outside. "Rebecca, duck," Kitty said, puling Rebecca down though the table.

"What is it?" Rebecca asked.

"Lance is outside," Kitty replied.

"Who?" Arwen asked glancing down at the two.

"He's a major hottie," Rebecca said.

"And he's probably looking for you, Arwen," Kitty said. "He's another one like us, but he has joined this band called the Brotherhood, and they cause a lot of destruction and are striving for mutant superiority." Kitty quieted down as she heard heavy footsteps approaching the table. She noticed the table move slightly down in one corner and suddenly, Lance's face appeared under the table.

"You wouldn't be hiding from me, Kit Kat, would you?"

Kitty sighed. He found them.

"Just leave her alone, Lance," Kitty said standing up through the table and then sitting back down.

"Who her?" Lance asked taking the last seat at the booth. He pointed to Arwen next to him. "This her? I'm not here looking for anyone but you, Kitten."

"You came here looking for me?" Kitty asked crossing her arms.

"Well, Curly Q next to you told me she was coming here, and I had been headed toward your house until she started up your front steps, so I assumed you were going with." Lance leaned back. "I never would have come in here if I didn't see her disappear _through_ the table, but then I knew you were here and hiding from me. So how about you and this girl," he gestured to Arwen, "switch spots so we'll both be happier."

"I am perfectly fine here, thank you, Lance," Kitty snapped.

"Fine, but Pietro's zipping around from store to store looking for this her, I assume," Lance said. "And, he's much more likely to find her if he sees you." Lance smirked and switched Arwen's and Kitty's plates.

Kitty sighed, phased through the table, helping Arwen to the other side. "See, everyone's happy," Lance said putting his arm around Kitty.

"Hey, Lance," Kitty warned, but he just smiled at her and turned to Arwen and Rebecca, leaving his arm around her shoulders.

"Hi, I don't believe we've met," he said to Arwen. "The name is Lance Alvers, also known as Avalanche."

"Arwen Westbrook," Arwen replied shaking his hand.

"So, you're the new –" Lance began, but Kitty cut him off.

"Not so loud, Lance," she snapped. "Do you want people to overhear you?"

Lance smirked. "You don't want people to know?" he asked. "Someone is bound to notice if you keep walking through things, Kitten."

"And don't call me that," Kitty snapped again.

Lance's smirk only grew and he leaned in closer to Kitty. "Wouldn't want anyone under the impression that we like one another, would we. Because heaven forbid that the public should know we're dating."

"You two are dating?" Rebecca asked loudly. "Kitty, why didn't you tell me?"

"Because we're not," Kitty snapped. "We dated, yes, but that ship has sailed. Plus, it was like two dates."

"Like you were satisfied with only two," Lance said and he leaned closer to her so that their noses were just barely touching. Kitty backed up into the wall. "I could say no where to go, but I know better. Unless you're still bent on keeping your secret."

"Back away from me, Lance," Kitty said. She wondered why Rebecca wasn't trying to help her. She even began to wish Arwen would say something.

"You two don't look like rivals to me," Rebecca said while she stifled a smile. Kitty glared at her friend, and then into Lance's eyes. She did not want him this close to her, not to mention closer as he leaned in even more and pressed his lips against hers.

When he pulled back a few moments later, he licked his lips and smiled. "Mmm, you taste like mango, Kit Kat." Kitty's jaw dropped as Arwen and Rebecca both stifled giggles.

"Strong rivalry there," Arwen said through her giggles.

If Kitty wasn't waiting for the Professor and Storm, and didn't have Pietro to worry about, she would have considered begging Rebecca to take her home. But, as things were, she _did_ have to wait for the Professor and Storm and she _did_ have to worry about Pietro finding Arwen. However, Kitty still didn't really understand what Arwen's powers were. _Things happen when she lets music into her head_, Kitty began thinking about what Arwen had said. "Well, as I was telling you before Lance showed up," Kitty turned to Arwen, ignoring the fact that he was playing with her hair and leaning close to her, as if he was taking in her scent. "My professor helped me to control my abilities, and he would gladly do the same for you. He is coming in this afternoon hoping to speak with you and your parents. Lance, stop it."

"What's wrong, Kitten?" Lance asked with his mouth so close to her ear that she could feel his warm breath across her whole cheek and down her neck. She shivered as his breath dissipated and the cool air conditioning struck her skin again.

"Look, Lance, I'm trying to talk to Arwen here," Kitty said. "And you are making this very difficult for me."

"But it's so entertaining for both Arwen and… I'm sorry, it's Becky, right?" Lance said, turning to Rebecca.

"Close enough," Rebecca sighed. "I mostly go by Rebecca."

"Aren't you having fun?" Lance asked the two girls across from him.

"Lance, can you please not make this pain-stakingly difficult?" Kitty begged.

Lance sighed and turned to Arwen. "You need to learn to control your powers? My advice is that you listen to Kit Kat here and attend Xavier's Institute. He'll help you with control, get a nice bedroom, pretty okay food, and you'll get trained to use your powers for 'good.'" Lance smiled and turned to Kitty. "That wasn't so hard. Now how about you and I go catch a movie?"

"Movie?" Arwen gasped.

"What is it?" Rebecca asked.

"My mom and grandma," Arwen said. "They went to a movie, but it's probably out by now and they have to be wondering where I am."

Kitty's brow furrowed. "Do you mind if we come with you?"

Arwen looked nervous. "I haven't told my family yet," she said quietly. She sighed and pulled a pen and a piece of paper from her purse. She quickly scribbled down two addresses and three phone numbers. "The top address and number are my home in Palatine. The bottom two are my grandma's address and number. The last number is my cell. Can I have a few hours to tell my family and then meet your professor to discuss the future?"

"Sure," Kitty said. "Want my number so you can call me when you're ready?"

Arwen nodded and Kitty quickly repeated her number. Once that was done, Arwen dashed out of the restaurant and across the street to the movie theater.

"Now that that is taken care of," Lance said as a smile spread across his lips and he leaned close to Kitty again. This time, however, Kitty slipped under the table and reappeared on the other side next to Rebecca.

"Do you not understand the concept of 'no'?" Kitty asked. She turned to see Rebecca take the final noodle into her mouth. "Let's get going now. We haven't gotten any shopping done?"

Rebecca agreed and the two girls made their way out of the restaurant. Lance followed.

"We _have _to get him to stop following us," Kitty said looking at Rebecca.

Rebecca smirked. "Are you sure you don't want to be left alone with him?"

"No!" Kitty snapped. She looked around. "Let's go here." Kitty dragged Rebecca into Von Maur. After a few laps around the store, the two girls finally felt they had lost him and began to look at the clothes. However, when they emerged from the dressing room, they ran into not only Lance, but Pietro as well.


	2. A MiniMoon and a Monologue

A Mini-Moon and a Monologue

Arwen looked between her mother and grandma. She really wanted her father to arrive before she told her family the truth. When the garage door was heard opening, Arwen stiffened.

"Molly, Gladys," Arwen's father said coming into the room and greeting her mother and grandma. "Hello, Arwen. How was your movie?"

Arwen bit her bottom lip. "That's not important. Um, can you all sit down, please?"

"What's this about, Arwen?" her mother asked as her father took a seat on the couch next to her mother.

Arwen took a deep breath and looked at her family. "You know how a few months back there was that whole thing about mutants and such?"

"You mean that attack by the mutants?" her father asked.

"Actually, Ari," her grandma interjected. "I believe that it was an attack on the mutants, but the media twisted it for the most part."

"Please, Arwen," her mother, Molly, said, "continue."

Arwen nodded and went over to the stereo and turned it on. "Well, I think there is something you should know about me." She then pressed play and Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me To the Moon" came on, filling the room. Arwen closed her eyes and listened intently to the song. She heard her parents and grandma all gasp and she opened her eyes. She was floating, and not only that, but a small sphere the resembled the moon materialized in the middle of the room. She reached to turn off the stereo, but found she suddenly couldn't reach it. And then, the house began trembling, and the water in the hot tub on the porch began to boil, windows began cracking.

"Arwen, stop it," Molly yelled, covering her ears as an ear-piercing screech began filling the air. Arwen reached out as far as she could, but couldn't reach the power button. She closed her eyes and began thinking,_ turn off, god damn it, turn off_. Finally, she felt her fingertip just barely touching the stereo and pressed the power button. The music stopped, and, with it, all the random destructive forces. Arwen fell to the floor with a crash. So did the mini-moon.

"Arwen, sweetie," her grandma gasped coming to her aid. "Are you okay? That wasn't a pleasant sounding fall."

Her mother followed not far behind her grandma. Her dad, however, was looking at her with fear in his eyes.

"You're one of them," he said, shaking his head.

"Please don't look at me like that," Arwen said, feeling her eyes beginning to grow hot.

"Ari…" Molly began.

"Don't hate me, Dad," Arwen begged as she felt a single tear drip from her eye.

Her dad, however, slowly stood from his seat and edged his way along the wall toward the door. "I need some time," he said and rushed out the door.

Arwen began crying.

"It's a little Kitty Kat," Pietro smiled with a malicious pleasure. He looked at Rebecca. "And this must be the new mutant my father told me about."

Rebecca lifted an inquisitive eyebrow. "I'm sorry, Bud –" she began, but Pietro acted before he got any full response. In a flash and with a powerful after effect wind, both Pietro and Rebecca disappeared.

"Rebecca?" Kitty's eyes grew wide. She turned to Lance, who had a fairly amused look on his face at the whole idea.

"Magneto's going to be pissed," Lance said in a little sing-song voice.

"He took Rebecca," Kitty yelled at Lance. Lance simply nodded. "Where?"

"Well, it sounded like he was headed to see Magneto," Lance said. Kitty's eyes grew wide. "Oh, and I think you would look fabulous in this." He grabbed a corset from a rack behind him. "I can almost picture it now. Some fishnets, a nice lacey thong, this…" A smirk crept onto his face as Kitty smacked his arm a few times.

"We have to save Rebecca," Kitty yelled.

"We'll never catch up to Quicksilver," Lance said. "Face it, Kitten, she's probably a goner."

"No!" Kitty yelled and began out the store while pulling out her phone. Just as she was about to start scrolling, looking for the Professor's number, her phone began to ring. "Professor, thank God you called just now. Pietro just abducted one of my friends thinking that she must be Arwen because I was with her. We have to save her, Professor."

"Kitty, calm down," the Professor said. "Ororo and I have just landed in the Palwaukee airport. Have you found Arwen?"

"Yes, Professor," Kitty said. "She went home with her mother and grandmother. She wanted to tell them before she talked to you, but she looked like she was all for it. Lance even put in a good word for you. But what about my friend? There's no telling what Magneto will do to her when he discovers she has no powers."

"Kitty, please," the Professor said again. "Where are you right now?"

"I'm at a shopping center called The Glen," Kitty said. Suddenly, she heard a beep on her phone. She looked at it quickly, and recognized that it was one of the numbers Arwen had given her. "Professor, Arwen's calling me."

"Take that," he said. "Call me back immediately."

Kitty nodded and switched lines. "Arwen?"

"When can your professor arrive?" Arwen asked in a shaky voice.

"He just landed in Palwaukee," Kitty said. "Where are you? Are you okay? Do you want us to come immediately?"

"Yes, please," Arwen said. "I'm at my grandma's house. The second address. It's close to the airport."

"Okay, we're on our way," Kitty said. She then dialed the Professor back. "She's ready to see you, but she sounded sad, which means someone probably didn't take it too well." Kitty pulled out the paper from her purse and recited the address to the Professor.

"Okay, Kitty," Professor Xavier said. "Ororo and I will pick you up, then we'll all go to the house."

"That's alright, Professor," Kitty said. "I think I can get another ride there." She turned to Lance, who was still right behind her. "See you in a few."

"Yes, Kitten?" Lance asked as a smile grew on his face.

Kitty sighed. "Can you give me a lift?"

Lance's smile grew wider. "Anything for you, Pretty Kitty… if," Kitty had been hoping there wouldn't be an 'if,' "You give me a kiss."

Kitty's shoulders sagged. She didn't really have a choice now. "Fine," she pouted. Before she could prepare herself, Lance had bent forward and caught her lips in a deep, passionate kiss. Kitty was caught so off guard that her lips worked against her brain and pressed back, and even allowed Lance's tongue to slip into her mouth. He pulled back first, and Kitty almost tried to get another kiss before she finally came back to her senses.

"Liked that, huh?" Lance smiled.

Kitty crossed her arms and screwed up her mouth. "Can we just get going?"

"As you wish."

Kitty and Lance arrived at the address at the same time as the Professor and Ororo. There were two cars in the driveway already, and one in the open garage. Kitty leapt our of Lance's car and joined the Professor and Ororo on their way to the front door. Kitty knocked for them, and a few seconds later, the door was opened by a rather startled Molly.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Westbrook," the Professor said. "My name is Charles Xavier, and these are Ororo Munroe and Kitty Pryde. Is Arwen in?"

"We've been expecting you," Molly said, opening the door wider and inviting them all in. "Yes, Arwen's waiting in the den. Could you just follow me?"

Arwen was sitting between her grandmother and another girl about Kitty and Arwen's age. This girl had reddy-brown hair and bright green eyes. She seemed to be trying to get Arwen to cheer up. Kitty watched in amazement as a perfectly colored tiger lily grew out of a small pot of dirt on the table. The girl picked it and tucked it into Arwen's hair. "There you go. Now you look so pretty!"

"Thanks, Rose," Arwen said.

"Arwen, Rose," Molly said. "Professor Xavier's here."

Professor Xavier smiled, seeing that he had not one, but two mutants who could attend his institute. It didn't take long before both girls had agreed to attend.

"Professor, what about Rebecca?" Kitty asked afterward.

"What happened to Rebecca?" Arwen asked.

"Lance's friend mistook her as you and kidnapped her," Kitty said.

"I've already sent Logan and Scott to rescue her, Kitty," the Professor said.

"Oh, great," Kitty said sarcastically. "She's going to be scared out of her mind."

"What do you mean, she's not the one?" Pietro asked a furious Magneto. "She was with Shadowcat."

"Did you ever stop to think that Miss Pryde might have non-mutant friends?" Magneto yelled.

"Truth hurts," Rebecca said, looking at Pietro. "Now, could you just drop me back off from where you took me from?"

"Sorry, Miss…" Magneto began.

"Wonka," Rebecca quickly made up a name. "I'm Wilma Wonka."

Magneto and Pietro both stared at her before Magneto said, "I doubt that. Any way, you are the perfect bait I need to attract Shadowcat to me so I might test my containment cells against phasing and capture an X-Man, thus attracting the rest so that I might capture them all and fulfill my plan."

Rebecca cocked her head. "Who's Shadowcat?"

"Kitty Pryde," Pietro said.

Rebecca looked back and forth between father and son. "And what master plan is this?"

"Well," Magneto began. Pietro sighed and zipped out of the room, having heard this plan too many times as it was. Magneto began explaining the basics of his plan, but not enough that would allow her any information that could help the X-Men to stop him. However, she wasn't listening. She tip-toed to the doorway Pietro had disappeared through and sneaked out. As she was wandering quietly down the hall, she heard a quiet arguing.

"I think I should go in because I don't have a metal skeleton," one person argued.

"And I say no because you're not ready to take Magneto on yourself, Cyclops," a gruff voice snapped.

Rebecca peeked around the corner. She saw that each of them had an X on their belt. She remembered that guy with the metal helmet had talked about the 'X-Men.' Chances were, these guys were here to save her.

"Hi, looking for me?" Rebecca asked rounding the corner. Both men stiffened. "Are you friends of Kitty's?"

"Rebecca Stein?" the gruff voiced man asked. Rebecca simply nodded.

"That was too easy," the other man stiffened. "Why are you wandering free in Magneto's lair?"

"I got him monologuing," Rebecca said. "He probably doesn't even notice I'm not in that room any more. So, let's go before he does."

"And that, my young dear, is how I will conquer the world," Magneto finished. He looked down, only to realize she was gone. "Did I just monologue?"

"I'm sorry, Lance, I can't talk right now," Kitty said into the phone. "I'm packing. I'm returning to the Professor's mansion for a few days. No, two reasons. First, I'm going to help Arwen get accustomed to the mansion and introduce her to Mr. Logan. Second, because Rebecca is there right now after your friend kidnapped her."

Storm and Professor Xavier were speaking with Mr. and Mrs. Pryde as Kitty packed. "I know I've told you this in status reports I send out every other month, but Kitty is making exceptional progress at the Institute. She has gotten her gift fully under her control and has made an exceptional number of friends, not only in the Institute but among others in the community."

"We're just glad that our Katherine is happy," Mr. Pryde said. "She's always had friends, but it seemed that she also was teased a lot in her younger years because she simply caught onto new concepts and ideas much quicker than other kids."

"The other children at our Institute praise her for her brain," Storm said. "They often ask her for help and she has become involved in a high school tutoring program the last few months."

"I'm ready," Kitty announced coming out of her room with a mid-sized duffle. "Bye, Mom. Bye, Daddy." Kitty hugged them each in turn, and then looked at Storm and the Professor. "Should we be off to pick up Arwen and Rose?"

"Indeed, Kitty," the Professor nodded and began on his way out of the door. When the three pulled into the driveway at Rose's house in Palatine, they could see that Rose enjoyed practicing her gift, using her front garden as an experiment. The grass at her house was uncut, but at the perfect height, the trees were in full bloom, the garden was filled with a variety of the most colorful and beautiful flowers, and there were two palm trees in the back yard from which a hammock hung.

"Quite the impressive garden, Miss Trelin," the Professor commented as Rose came out of her house. She was carrying two large duffle bags and a box. After placing the items in the trunk of the car, she introduced her parents to the Professor and Storm while she led Kitty to Arwen's house a block away. Arwen had two duffle bags as well, but each was slightly larger than Rose's larger bag.

"How much stuff do you two have?" Kitty asked.

"Lots of clothing," Rose said. "Believe me, this is, what maybe half of your wardrobe, Arwen?"

"Actually, it's the whole thing," Arwen said. "Just packed very well." She handed one bag to Rose, who dropped it because of its weight. "I also have books, magazines, pictures, and my laptop in my backpack." She turned to show her overstuffed backpack. "Let's get this to the car before my back gives out."

The three girls arrived back at the car just as Storm and the Professor were coming out of the Trelin house. "Let me take those," Storm said, opening the trunk of the car. She lifted the bags with ease and placed them into the trunk. Rose hugged each of her parents good-bye, and then piled into the car with Kitty and Arwen.

Several hours later, they flew the jet into the mansion, after severely freaking out Rose and Arwen when they thought they were about to crash. Logan and Hank met them and helped to carry the bags to the room the two girls would be sharing during their time at the Institute. Meanwhile, Kitty took her bag to her room and was surprised to find Rebecca and Rogue talking.

"Oh my gawd!" Kitty cried throwing her arms around Rebecca. "You're completely unharmed. How did you escape?"

"I guess it was a stroke of luck," Rebecca admitted. "I mean, Speedy Gonzales took me to Metal Helmet-Head and then Metal Helmet-Head began monologing and Speedy zipped out of there, so I quietly followed and ran into the two X-Men sent in for my rescue."

"That is luck," Kitty agreed and then looked at Rogue. _I wonder if maybe it was a bit more than luck_, she began to think, but then changed her mind. _Rebecca has a little Irish blood in her. It must have been her luck of the Irish. There is no way _she_ has a mutation._

"Kitty, I love this place," Rebecca said as the two walked down the hall a few minutes later for dinner. "I got to watch Rogue in a Danger Room session. Not to mention, you have like, the softest bed I've ever known to exist here. And everyone had mutations. And if any of the other boys are half as good looking as the other mutant boys I've met today, then I am jealous beyond all belief."

"Oh, yeah," Kitty said as she rolled her eyes. "Because the world fearing and tormenting me is just what I asked for at Hanukah." She turned to her friend. "It's not really a joy ride, Rebecca. It's difficult and dangerous. You got kidnapped and had a stroke of luck that you may never receive again, so be happy about that."

Rebecca suddenly stopped Kitty and turned her to face her. "I think it's more than just luck, Kitty. I mean, I've been getting exceptionally lucky for weeks now. Like, I was failing history, but made a deal with the teacher that if I aced the final, I'd get an A, and I did, without studying. And Mike, I've been after him for years, dumped Lisa Montgomery for me. And my 'lucky' escape from that Magneto dude. Did I tell you I picked my mom's mini-lottery numbers last week and she won fifty thousand dollars? Just the fact that I passed drivers' Ed, and that I passed the driving test. And those are just the big things. You have to believe me, Kitty."

"So, what?" Kitty asked. "Do you think _you're_ a mutant too?"

"Maybe," Rebecca said. "I mean, think about it, Kitty. My mom is five feet, eight inches tall. My dad is six three. And at age sixteen, I'm still five three. That can't be normal. What if I'm like, a leprechaun? I mean, I do look great in green."

"I don't know, Rebecca," Kitty began. "We can talk to Professor Xavier after dinner if you'd like."

Rebecca beamed. "I lurve you, Kitty."

Half way across the country, however, a mutant spied on the Trelin house. Something was awkward in the house, and he knew it wasn't just the grand garden and perfectly manicured lawn. No, there was definitely something inside the house besides two regular adults. Another mutant.

Gambit didn't know how he knew, but it was something about how the parents of the Rose girl were so in love, after all their long years of marriage. How they still held hands, like a pair of teenagers.

A boy a few years younger than Rose walked out the front door and began down the street. _He's a mutant, too, _Gambit thought. _I can tell, but I don't know why._

Gambit followed the boy several blocks until the boy came upon a teenaged couple strolling down the street and eating ice cream cones.

"Why, hello, Duke Trelin," the boy, who stood several inches taller smirked. "Come to check out my girlfriend again?"

The girl, a petite blonde, rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry about him, Duke," she said.

"Oh, no," Duke replied. "Plus, it's not like you like him or anything, right, Angelina?"

"Well, of course I…" she suddenly stopped and Gambit watched as Duke's eyes glowed for a millisecond. "You're absolutely right, Duke." She turned to the other boy and smashed the ice cream in his face. "Fuck off, Richard. Let's go, Duke."

"I'm just watching out for your safety, Angelina," Duke said while leading her away.

"Bingo," Gambit said and waited as Duke and the girl closed in on his hiding spot before revealing himself.

Magneto stared down at his son. "Don't fail me this time, Quicksilver. I have even given you a picture to go off of. Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a surfer with a whole beach of boys after her."

Pietro nodded and disappeared to Southern California where a surf competition was wrapping up. There was only one girl in sight, and she matched the picture.

"Can I get you anything, Tip?" One boy asked.

"Want my trophy for your collection, Tip?" another boy asked.

"Naw, she wants mine because I got the first place," a third boy shouted.

"Boys, boys," the girl, Tip, held up her hands. "No one has won yet. Plus, I think I'll be adding _my_ trophy to my collection." She walked out of her circle and grabbed her board. As she passed by the judges' table, she turned to look at them, and seemed to blow each of the three males a kiss. They each smiled and sighed.

She surfed a perfect performance, Pietro had to admit that. As she paddled back to shore, the head judge was already holding the trophy. "Congratulations, Tip."

However, before she could accept it, Pietro zipped down and carried her off.


	3. Explosions of All Sorts

**Just for those of you wondering, The Glen is a real shopping center in a town near Deerfield. It really does have ULTA, Noodles and Company, and Von Maur in it. Also, Palwaukee is a small airport right in that area as well. And Palatine is about 20 - 30 minutes from Deerfield. Ah, to live in a Northwest Chicago Suburb. Please review!  
**

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Explosions of All Sorts

"I'm still surprised that Half-Pint's friend just happens to be a mutant," Logan commented to the Professor as they watched a Danger Room session of capture the flag. Kitty and Rose were on one team while Scott, Rebecca, and Rogue were on another. After a few hours spent with the Professor, it had turned out that Rebecca not only had exceptional luck, but had the ability to control the luck of others. She, therefore, had received the name Clover. As for Rose and her ability to control plant growth, and to even make them practically live, she was dubbed the Green Thumb. And Arwen, well, she was dubbed Muse, but wouldn't be participating in Danger Room sessions until she had a better hold on her power or was better trained in the arts of fighting and defending.

And, as for Professor Xavier's office where he tested Arwen's powers the first night after speaking with Rebecca, _everything_ had to be replaced, including the wheel chair he had been sitting in at the time.

"They're not watching for enough surprise traps," Logan commented.

"We turned the difficulty down slightly for Rose and Rebecca," Ororo said. "We don't want to injure them, Logan."

"Injury means mistakes," Logan grumbled. "That's how people best learn."

"Wouldn't it work better if there were more people and the teams were even?" Arwen asked.

"We work with what we have," Logan said. "Just wait until the rest of the students return for the school year, Muse. Then you'll see things that will astonish you."

"That might be hard," Arwen said. "Did you have a look at that office? My grandma now has a miniature moon centerpiece for her living room coffee table. I gave my band director a heart attack when I auditioned for a higher band. Things don't really astonish me anymore."

"You got spunk, kid," Logan said. "Just learn to use your powers."

"So, let me get this straight," Mystique asked looking at what was left in the Brotherhood house. "You don't know where Avalanche is." Todd and Fred each shook his head. "You don't know where Colossus is." Todd and Fred each shook his head again. "And you don't know where The Scarlet Witch is."

"We assumed Wanda's working with her father," Todd said.

"By the way," Fred asked, "why are you here?"

Mystique narrowed her eyes. "Magneto sent me here to collect you five hooligans, but as I see that there are only two of you, I am going to be in a lot of distress."

"Colossus has turned against Magneto," Fred said quickly.

"I thought you knew that by now," Todd quickly added in. "To be with the X-Geeks."

"And Wanda left this morning with intentions to talk to Magneto after Pietro dropped by," Fred finished

"Good," Mystique said. "And Avalanche?"

"He left a day after school let out," Todd said. "Probably to wherever Kitty Pryde lives."

Mystique rolled her eyes. "Clean this place up, boys. Other people live here besides you two. And, tomorrow evening, you will have two new additions to your team."

"Is it still led by Pietro?" Todd asked.

"No, I will be in charge of you all once again."

Kitty glanced at Rebecca during their plane ride home. She fully expected Rebecca would be attending the Institute come fall, but Kitty didn't know how much she liked that idea. She loved Rebecca dearly, but sometimes Rebecca could be overwhelming. Across the aisle sat Rose. After learning that her brother had disappeared shortly after she left, she felt that it was important for her to stay home to help her parents cope, or possibly to hope he would return.

Kitty grabbed her headphones and began listening to the music. She sighed. Most of the songs were absurdly old. She really wanted to listen to something new, but received no better songs as the flight continued.

By the end of June, Kitty had come to terms with the fact that Lance wasn't about to leave her alone for a long time. No, she learned that he was quite infatuated with her, though it did scare her somewhat. She was proud that he had gotten a job at the local Domino's Pizza and he even began getting Kitty and a few of her friends free pizza's when he could.

"Hey, Kit Kat," Lance said one late afternoon coming up behind her and Rebecca as they were walking along their block. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"What is it, Lance?" Kitty asked. She closed her eyes and couldn't tell if it was the air or Lance that smelled delicious. With a little extra thought, she realized he smelled like pizza.

"So, the Fourth of July carnival opens tonight," Lance began. "And since I am off work, I was wondering if you'd like to go with me… on a date."

"She says yes," Rebecca quickly answered for Kitty. "Oh, look at that, my house already. Got to go." With that, Rebecca disappeared up the steps and through the front door. Well, there went the girls' movie night they had planned weeks ago.

Lance smiled. "Pick you up at eight? Good." With that, Lance began toward his own humble abode, leaving Kitty standing in the street confused. _How the hell did that happen?_ She questioned herself. Apparently her thoughts didn't matter.

"What was that about?" Kitty asked Rebecca over the phone as she cooked herself dinner.

"What do you think, Kitty?" Rebecca asked. "The one night all year that your parents are out of town, and you wanted to waste it with me? I refuse to let you. Plus, I now have a free night to spend with Mike."

"Parents out or not, I'm only going to the carnival with him," Kitty reminded her friend.

"Let me guess, you just happen to be picking out which pair of underwear is the sexiest," Rebecca asked. "And a really sexy outfit. Oh, wear that MNG by Mango shirt, you know, the black-ish one that had **Sweet Heart Breakers** in gold lettering that you got last week, and that jean mini-skirt, along with thin dangling earrings and black pumps. And, red Victoria Secrets lace that I got you last year as a gag gift."

"I didn't find it funny, and, what, are you, like, trying to get me to drive Lance mad with desire? He's not getting an invitation into my house."

"Sure he's not," Rebecca said. "Okay, it's a little too late for you to run to the drug store and back, so, you and I will rendezvous sometime around, let's say, nine by the ticket booth."

Kitty wrinkled her nose. "For what?"

"Well, unless you've already got a store of them or are on the pill, I was planning on giving you a couple of condoms. You know, protection."

"Rebecca!"

"Well, if you want to risk getting pregnant…"

"There will be none of that!"

"If you insist…"

"Good, Arwen, you're making very good progress," the Professor commented as Arwen held her body completely still, not daring to even blink, as a very simple song was played on a cassette tape. Only the chair she was clutching to shook slightly.

"Professor, you have a call," Storm's voice came through an intercom as the two were in the Danger Room.

"I'll be right back, Arwen," the Professor said. "See if you can loosen your body, or at least blink."

Arwen nodded slightly, but the slight disruption caused her chair to shake even more rapidly. As soon as the Professor was gone, Arwen's muscles tightened. She stared at the cassette player. If only she could turn it off without destroying the whole room.

She concentrated on the **Stop** button for what had to be ten minutes. Then, as if she was pushing down on it in real life, a small solid block of energy formed just above the button and pushed down. The music stopped and the energy disappeared.

"That was new…"

"The mansion is going to be on estrogen overflow," Bobby said while talking to Sam on the phone. "I hear that there are going to be at least three new girls, and all from Kitty's area. Plus Tabby's coming back."

"At least Jean will be at Syracuse for college," Sam replied. "Plus, there are two and a half months of summer. The Professor is bound to find at least one more male mutant. And, hey, if we feel the estrogen flow is too high over the testosterone flow, we'll just give Jamie a few hard pats on the back."

"Hope the girls are hot like Kitty," Bobby said. "Maybe they'll let me cool them off a little."

"I'm off, man," Sam said. He quickly hung up the phone. _I hope they're hot, too._

"Sam!" The call came from the backyard of his house. He sighed and slowly stood, making sure not to trip over any of the things lying around the house. "Sam! Hurry!"

"What is it… Paige?" Sam asked opening the back screen door. His sister, two years younger, was suddenly a foot taller and had orange fur.

His brother, a year younger than Paige, was laughing, having trouble not falling from the tree branch he was sitting on. "You should have seen it, Sam," Jay said through his chuckles. "She was yelling at me to get down, and then her skin just fell off and she looked like that."

Sam wrinkled his nose at his brother. "How did you get up there, anyway?" Not even he could climb that high on the tree.

"He flew," Paige said. "He's got wings."

Sam let his face drop into his hands. "This cannot be happening to me." He looked at his two siblings. "Jay, down now. Paige, see if you can shed that new skin back to your old self. We're going to talk to mom and dad."

"But, Sam…" Jay began.

"I will seriously knock you out of that tree, Jay," Sam snapped, preparing to cannonball at his brother. Jay sighed and revealed his wings as he flew down.

Despite the fact that Kitty insisted that her date with Lance would result in nothing more than a simple date, Kitty wore what Rebecca had suggested. She left her hair down after her shower and it had dried into little waves and the slight touch of make-up she put on suggested a slightly older look than her usual light-colored eye shadow. She had to practice walking around her house a few times to get a hang on her pumps, but in the end, she felt she looked fabulous. When the doorbell rang, she grabbed her purse and made her way to the door.

"Hey, Pretty Kitty," Lance said when the door opened. His smile widened as he looked her up and down. "Very pretty, might I add."

"Thank you, Lance," Kitty smiled. She took in Lance's outfit. His jeans, as usual, had holes, though not quite as many as most of his jeans had. And he wore a nice, light green button-up shirt, leaving the top couple of buttons undone. He even looked like he had gotten his hair cut. He offered her an arm.

"No parents coming to give me a lecture about how to treat you?" Lance asked as he opened the door of his Jeep.

"Um, they went out for dinner," Kitty quickly said, implying they'd be back by the time she would get home. "I have a midnight curfew."

"I can work with that," Lance said leaning over and kissing Kitty quickly on her lips.

"I hope my roommate doesn't mind that I'm a mutant," Jean said to her mother as the two were searching for bed sheets for Jean's dorm room. Jean's parents has already told her that she could bring her SUV to school and were providing a television and microwave for the room as long as her roommate provided a refrigerator and DVD player.

"How about these sheets, Jean, dear," Mrs. Grey asked pointing to a red and white set of sheets.

"Um, I was really thinking more blue," Jean said. "Or periwinkle. Actually, periwinkle and brown. And white. Plus, my hair will blend in too much with red sheets."

Mrs. Grey sighed and continued to follow her daughter throughout the department store. They had already set limits to how much new clothes Jean could get for college, as well as thought about the best way to break to Jean's roommate that she was a mutant, and had previously stayed at a mutant institute for the past several years.

"Mom, you don't think that I'll freak them out too much, do you?" Jean asked.

"Of course not, Honey," her mother said. "What is there to be afraid of?"

"Nothing, I suppose," Jean said. "I mean, I have friend's that are much worse off than me. Like Scott."

"These sheets are cute." Jean looked at the sheets her mother was holding up. They were a dark yellow and puce green plaid. The only good they would do would be to hide throw up stains.

But, just behind her mother, Jean saw the perfect sheets. "No, those sheets are cute," Jean said pointing as she made her way to the sheets that had given her the periwinkle/brown/white idea in the first place. "Can I get them? Please, please?"

Mrs. Grey looked at the sheets with annoyance. They were not little girl sheets. But she gave in anyway.

"Arwen, are ya coming with us?" Rogue asked passing Arwen's room.

Arwen looked up from her book and shook her head slightly. "Rogue, you're going to a club, which means the music will be too loud for me to block out, which means something would probably blow up. Plus, I'm really getting into my book."

Rogue smiled weakly. "Ah promise we'll do something tomorrow so ya can get outta this place for the Fourth of July."

"Sounds good," Arwen said. "But if you don't hurry, you'll get stuck in a crowd getting into the club. Have fun, but not too much."

"Sure thang," Rogue said as she turned and hurried to meet Scott by the entrance.

"She wouldn't come?" Scott asked.

"I don't think she wanted to see the building blow due to her powers," Rogue replied. "She's still adjusting, so Ah say we let her take it slow."

As soon as Arwen was sure they were gone, she closed her book and tip-toed through the mansion. Logan had disappeared a few days earlier on his motorcycle and the Professor had assured her he just needed a few days to himself. The Professor and Dr. McCoy had left earlier that day to recruit a new Mutant named Hector Mendoza, and Ms. Munroe was visiting her sister.

Ever since she had managed to form energy to turn off the tape cassette, Arwen had been wondering what else she could do if she concentrated hard enough. Now that she was all alone, she sat down on the Danger Room floor with only the tape player as company. After enough digging, she had found a Guns N' Roses tape (which she assumed was Logan's) and had popped that in the player. She took a deep breath and pressed play.

Getting off the Ferris wheel, Kitty tripped and fell into Lance's arms. He had been a perfect gentleman all night long and she couldn't believe it. While they had been at the top of the Ferris wheel, a short preview of the fireworks show later that night had gone off, and Kitty couldn't believe how romantic it was.

"Do you know where the fireworks are shot off from?" Kitty asked Lance as they headed out into a partially crowded field looking for a place where they could sit.

"It's a small clearing past those trees," he said pointing. "But the best view is on the other side of the clearing on the rooftops of the old houses there."

"How do you know?" Kitty asked.

Lance blushed slightly. "One of my foster families lived there for a while and I watched the fireworks from the rooftop one year."

Kitty smiled lightly and stood on her toes, kissing Lance's chin. "Let's go."

"Mama, can I please, please, please, please, please, go back?" Jubilation Lee begged her mother. "Things are soooo much better now and I swear I won't cause any problems and stay out of trouble."

Jubilee smiled brightly at her mother in an innocent way. She was positive that she could convince her mother of just about anything. "Please, Mama, I beg of you. I swear I won't ask for anything else, ever."

"You know that's not true, Jubilation," her mother said. "But, I will allow you to return on the condition that no more attacks are made on mutants for the rest of the summer."

"Thank you, Mama," Jubilee cried and hugged her mother. She then danced around the room causing tiny fireworks to go off.

"Jubilation!" her father yelled from the next room down.

About half way through the fireworks, while Kitty was sitting between Lance's legs, with his arms around her waist and his chin resting on her right shoulder, she turned her head slightly toward him and he moved in to lightly kiss her. Well, it began as a light kiss, but before long, the passion flared up between them and Lance's tongue slipped deep into her mouth.

So wrapped up in the ecstasy of the kiss, Kitty accidentally phased the two into the attic of the house they had been sitting on. When they landed on a couch, they couldn't help but break out laughing. Kitty grabbed Lance's hand and phased them out the side of the building and from there they quickly made their way to his Jeep.

From the moment that Lance pulled into Kitty's driveway, her memory became fuzzy, only remembering a montage of the best moments of the night. Lance lifting her over his shoulder and carrying her into the house. The goofy smile on his face when she told him that her parents wouldn't be home until the next evening. The two of them falling onto her bed. How impressive his chest was when she phased his shirt off. His lips trailing along her neck, sending shivers along her spine. The heat of his body pressed against her. Most importantly, how he had refused to have sex with her, no matter how much she prompted him. His words, "I couldn't take that, Kitten. It wouldn't be right. I love you more than that."

"Let's see what you've got, Spunk," Logan said to Arwen. He had recently taken to calling her 'Spunk" as she would sometimes refuse to take his orders. She finally thought she was ready to take a Danger Room session using her powers.

"Don't forget to turn on a song or something," Arwen yelled up. "I'm basically defenseless without it."

"What about all those moves I've been teaching you?"

"I haven't stretched properly. Don't want to pull a muscle. Unlike you, I don't have super healing."

"Just get in fighting stance," Logan said. He activated a low-level battle simulation and turned on a song from one of Rogue's CDs. Rogue and Scott watched with Logan, both interested to see Arwen's powers finally in action.

"Shit, is she flying?" Rogue asked as Arwen hovered in the air after jumping to avoid a laser. She then sent a wave of energy to deactivate the laser.

"Impressive," Scott commented as she ducked below a few flying metal balls. They were even more impressed when she made the blow up. "Very."

"I'd say a job well done," Dr. McCoy said when Arwen finished. "Only hit by three lasers, but who needs a left leg anyway, right?"

"Please, Arwen, as celebration, what would you like for dinner tonight?" Professor Xavier asked. "We'll cook the meal for you."

Arwen's eyes lit up. "Mac and cheese, Professor."

Fred, Todd, Wanda, and Pietro all stood ready to officially meet their two new teammates. Technically, Pietro had met the girl, but he wasn't sure if a slap on the face was completely official.

The door opened and Mystique took two steps into the room. Her eyes jumped to each of the three boys and Wanda. "Blob, Toad, Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, meet Duke and Tip, also known as Eros and Pheromones."

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**Once again, please review. I can't make it better unless you review.**


	4. The Old, the New, and the Newer

**For those of you that don't know what a Lladro is, it is a very expensive ceramic figurine designed by an artist in Spain. I once broke the trunk off an elephant Lladro when I was three, but that's a different story all together.**

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The Old, the New, and the Newer

Ten days before Bayville High opened for the school year, the students of Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters reopened. One reason was so that all the X-Men could get back into the swing of things. The second was so that those who were new could adjust before classes started.

"Keetty!" Kitty heard Kurt call from the bottom of the stairs as she helped Rebecca lug her huge chest up the stairs. With a _bamph!_ Kitty found herself in a tight hug and unable to keep her hold on the chest. She quickly phased herself and Kurt as the heavy oak chest began sliding down the stairs.

"Oh my God," Rebecca shrieked, running after her chest through the still phased Kitty and Kurt. "I hope nothing broke." Rebecca threw open the top and began digging around, listing the things that all looked good. "Ha, even my Lladro is totally unharmed."

"Who brought a Lladro?" Jean Grey's voice called through the halls. She was spending her last week before Syracuse opened at the Institute to visit her friends and help the new mutants to get situated.

"Jean!" Kurt called and teleported to hug her. "Ah, two and a half months avay vas too long. Rogue!"

"Don'cha dare hug me, Elf," Rogue said, holding out a hand. "Plus, don'cha need to get your stuff up to your room?"

"Right!" Kurt teleported to his bags and grabbed them. He then teleported to his room.

"It looks like someone hasn't used his powers in a while," Scott said walking into the room. "Jean, want to go with me to the airport to pick up Cannonball?"

"Sure, Scott," Jean floated herself down to the landing as Kitty and Rebecca were trying again to lug her chest up the stairs.

"Um, can we use your SUV, because he's got two siblings with him."

"How many new mutants do ve haf zis year?" Kurt asked teleporting back into the room.

"Uh…" Scott began counting in his head. "Wait, this might take a second. There's Arwen… and…"

"Do you want to count Jubilee again?" Logan asked walking into the room. "Let me get that, Half-Pint." He grabbed her end of the chest and lifted it with almost ease."

"Jubilee's back?" Ray asked as he was coming back down the stairs.

"Seven," Scott answered Kurt's question.

"Please tell me some of them are males," Bobby said after just walking into the mansion.

"Two, Bobby," Rogue said walking down the stairs once Logan had finished getting the chest. "One's Jamie's age and one, well a year older."

"At least there's no new competition for the girls," Ray reasoned.

"Don't be so sure about that," the voice of Evan came through the doors. He was holding a duffle in one arm and a skateboard in the other.

"I'm glad you've returned, Evan," Ororo said coming into the front room. "Well, why is everyone just standing around for? I'm sure you all have bags to carry to your rooms. Those of you who don't know who you're rooming with, please see me."

Everyone began moving about again, and soon, the mansion was bustling with excited students just ready to get started. After several hours, everyone heard the voice of Xavier in his or her head. _Please, everyone, suit up and report to the back yard._

"What, training?" Bobby complained. "But we've barely just gotten here."

"Gotta do it," Sam shrugged. "I just don't want to get shown up by my siblings."

Once the last of the students arrived in the back yard, Xavier wheeled out. "I'm glad to see you all here. I just thought that we should all get accustomed to one another and learn everyone else's powers. I think I'll start with your instructors. As you all know, I am Professor Xavier. I am a telepath. To my right, stands Ms. Munroe, also known as Storm. Ororo, please demonstrate and explain your powers."

"This is going to be good," Bobby remarked to Sam and Ray. He then went to use Jamie as a leaning post. Kitty, realized Bobby's plan so she lightly touched Jamie so Bobby phased through and crashed to the ground. All the mutants who were around the institute before started to laugh.

"It's not funny," Bobby said. "I could have gotten hurt, Kitty."

Kitty made a sad face and asked in a babying voice, "I'm sorry. Would your bumped elbow like a kiss?"

Bobby smiled widely. "I think my bumped lips do, too."

"Then ask someone who's not in a relationship," Kitty said turning back to the professor.

"Uh, what?" A few people turned to look at Kitty.

"It's not Alvers," Scott began in a low voice. "Is it?"

"First off, his name is Lance," Kitty said. "And second, why do you care?"

Several of the X-Men groaned. "He's Avalanche," Scott snapped. "He's part of the Brotherhood."

"He is not any more," Kitty said. "He's much better than he used to be, Scott."

"Doubt it," Evan murmured to Kurt next to him.

"Vhere haf I heard zat before?" Kurt asked sarcastically.

Xavier lightly coughed, so everyone returned his or her attention to him. Finally, Storm brought a light rain and wind, along with a single flash of lightning. And, so, one by one, each of the instructors and students began showing off their powers, until finally, they arrived at the new students.

"Let's start with Miss Rose Trelin," Xavier nodded to Rose. "Or, the Green Thumb."

"Uh, right," Rose said stepping forward. The dark blue outfit made her look almost anorexic thin, aside from the fact that she was basically a bottomless pit when she ate. Her hair shone much more red in the sun than in other light and it was tied up in a high ponytail. "I basically can control plants." She then concentrated on the grass, which grew several feet instantly.

"I am not mowing the lawn," Logan said looking at the grass.

"No problem," Rose said. The next second, all the grass shrank down back to a perfect lawn.

"Thank you, Rose," the professor nodded to her. "How about Arwen Westbrook goes next. She will also be known as Muse."

"I'd rather not," Arwen said. "At least, not out in the open." She had not spent much time outside, so she was comparatively pale to everyone's summer tan and her dark brown hair contrasted she skin nicely.

"Aw, come on, Arwen," Rogue said. "Ah've seen you control your powers."

Arwen sighed. "Can anyone do beet box? I don't have any music with me."

"Sure," Evan smiled. He began a little beat. Arwen then began creating little blasts on the heavy beats.

"It's basically the ability to manipulate what's around and create things through the use of music."

"Who shall go next? Ah, Rebecca Stein? Also known as Clover."

"I just have substantially good luck," Rebecca said. The dark blue outfit hugged her every last curve, which she had more than any of the other girls. She definitely felt the eyes of the boys on her. "Oh, and I can give others bad luck."

"How about you show us," Bobby said with a smirk.

"Fine," Rebecca said. She waved her hand at him.

"That's it?" Bobby asked. He began laughing, but when he tried to bend forward laughing, the back of his pants ripped. When the rip was heard, everyone began to laugh.

"Today's just not your day," Ray remarked to the blushing Bobby.

"I'd like Megan Gwynn to go next," the Professor said, nodding to a short girl standing sort of shyly near the front. "She will also be known as Pixie."

Megan, who had pink hair falling on her shoulders and was sporting brightly colored and shining wings, jumped into the air and flew around a little. A little bit of sparkling gold dust fell beneath her. She then landed and smiled. "I just fly and have pixie dust, really," she said with a Scottish accent.

"Thank you, Megan. Hector Mendoza, or Wraith, could you please go next."

Hector, who was just Jamie's height, though a little thinner, stepped forward. He had short black hair and tanned skin, having been born and raised in Puerto Rico. Several of the X-Men recognized an image inducer on his wrist similar to Kurt's. He turned it off, showing how his skin was transparent. He rolled up his sleeves so they could all see it was more than his face. They were still able to see his outline, but looking through him, images were distorted. "It's just transparent skin," he said turning the image inducer back on.

"Who shall be next? Sam, why don't you introduce your two siblings to everyone?"

Sam sighed. "Paige, Jay, this is everyone. Everyone, Paige and Jay."

Paige rolled her eyes and tucked some light brown hair behind her ear. "I guess I'll go. I can shed my skin and take on a new form." With that, some of her skin fell off and she had taken on the form of her older brother. "Ta da!" She then shed her skin to look like her normal self again.

"I've taken to calling her Husk," Sam said.

"As in a corn husk?" Kitty asked.

"Only someone from Kentucky," Bobby chuckled.

"And this is Jay," Paige said, pushing her younger brother forward. He, like Paige, had light brown hair that was a little short than Sam's, but a lot thinner.

Jay sighed. "I have wings, see." He turned around and flapped his wings a few times.

"And…" Paige and Sam said in unison.

"And I heal quickly."

"As in Logan quickly," Sam clarified.

Professor Xavier nodded. "You all have about an hour before dinner to finish unpacking or whatever you may be up to. Please, no pranking quite so early in the year," Professor Xavier looked in the direction of Bobby, Sam, Jubilee, and Tabby as he said this.

"I'm going to make a quick phone call," Kitty said, rushing into the mansion again, wanting to talk to Lance.

"Is she really going out with him again?" Scott asked Rebecca, knowing that the two girls had been together all summer.

"Well, they are infatuated with one another," Rebecca reasoned. "I have to move my car out of the front driveway now that I've gotten everything out of it. Can someone show me where to park?"

"Let me," Bobby smiled throwing an arm around her shoulders. "So, you're Kitty's friend, are you? You have got to give me some insight into that girl's mind."

"That girl is gonna to be making midnight phone calls again," Rogue complained to Jean about Kitty dating Lance again. "Ah don't know if Ah'll be able to handle it."

"I can't see it lasting too long," Jean replied. "I mean, how many times have they started and stopped dating?"

Unfortunately for the X-Men, Magneto had been recruiting all summer as well, and mostly without Xavier becoming aware of efforts. After Tip and Duke, another boy, by the name of Nicholas Arnold, had moved into the Brotherhood house. Nick had the ability to generate radioactive energy at high levels and could basically turn his body into a nuke if he wanted to, which was why he had adopted the alter ego as Nuclear. And, aside from Colossus, who had hidden his family rather well and hung around New York mostly, sometimes dropping by the Xavier Institute, Magneto had all his Acolytes still, in addition to the support of a woman named Emma Frost who ran the Hell Fire Club, and Legion. However, due to his helmet, neither Emma Frost nor Legion knew what his true plan was. He had even managed to convince several of the Morlocks to join his side providing them with a large estate where they could live above ground without people fearing them.

"Why are there seven popped bags of popcorn in the cabinet?" Tip called out from the kitchen as she opened the cabinet.

"Someone bumped me from behind as I was getting myself a bag," Nick yelled back from the couch. "They popped on their own."

"Because you can't control your powers," Tip snapped. "If I get cancer, I'm sending you my medical bills."

Nick rolled his vivid green eyes and continued to channel surf. "Not like you try to control your powers," he mumbled under his breath.

"Hey, Mystique, what's for dinner?" Tip called up the stairs. "I'm starving and there's nothing to eat."

Mystique exited her bedroom and crossed her arms. "I went shopping yesterday, Tip," she said barely keeping her voice from a yell.

"Yeah, but you didn't get anything good," Tip snorted. "Plus, Nick nuked half the food already." Tip smiled sweetly. "Please?"

Mystique growled. "Pietro, take Tip to a store so she can buy something that she feels will suit her needs."

"Gladly," Pietro said, somewhat mesmerized my Tip for the most part. He took the keys to the silver Civic they had been provided and led Tip out to the car. Tip giggled and winked at Nick.

Pietro drove to the nearest grocery store and parked next to a brand new blue Audi that looked like it came with all the accessories. For a moment, Pietro considered hotwiring the car, but then realized how pissed Mystique would be if he did. He followed Tip into the store.

"How do you know if something is Kosher or not?" Bobby asked Rebecca as she looked over several different types of cookies.

"It has a symbol," Rebecca said, showing him the symbol on a box of crackers she had already grabbed. "Or it will say Kosher. Remember, you're the one who volunteered to come here with me, remember?"

"Yeah, but you didn't tell me you were such a picky eater," Bobby said. "I seriously thought we'd be here for like, one minute."

"I'm not picky," Rebecca snapped. "I'm religious." She grabbed a package, quickly made sure it was Kosher, then threw it in the basket and began toward the front.

However, Bobby caught sight of something from the corner of his eye. "Ah, shit, Pietro's here."

"Who?" Rebecca asked turning to look where Bobby was glancing. "Him! He kidnapped me this summer! I feel like showing him a piece of my mind."

"Oh no you don't," Bobby grabbed her arm. "Not in here at least… unless…"

"You mean throw a little bad luck his way?" Rebecca asked.

"Exactly," Bobby said with a smile. Rebecca smiled evilly and stood one aisle over from Pietro. When he was looking at the fruits with some blonde girl in a ultra-mini Hollister skirt, Rebecca stood hidden behind a table of watermelons and threw as much bad luck at him as she could. She then ducked away and quickly bought her food. Just as she was handed her receipt, a loud crash was heard followed by a yell and what sounded like a body smashing a watermelon. It turned out that Pietro had put a hand on the watermelon table and the whole thing collapsed. Then, he jumped and landed right on one of the few unbroken watermelon with his butt. Rebecca and Bobby had to lean on each other to keep from falling over as they laughed. That's when Pietro spotted them.

He zipped in front of them. "I should have known that an X-Geek had something to do with that," Pietro said staring Bobby in the eyes.

"I didn't do a thing," Bobby said, still laughing.

Pietro was about to counter him, when he recognized Rebecca. "Why are you hanging out with this X-Geek… unless you're one too!"

"Turns out that way, Speedy," Rebecca said. "Now, we have to get going, so if you could move your watermelon dripping ass because we don't want to cause trouble."

"What are you going to do about it if I do want trouble?" Pietro asked.

"Just try and touch me," Rebecca said, stepping out of his reach. He tried to super speed again, but tripped on a loose tile and went flying into an umbrella display. "Let's get moving, Bobby." They climbed into her blue Audi, and backed out of the space just in time to keep her car from getting hit by a runaway cart. It hit the Civic next to her.

The dinner table was one of almost complete and utter chaos. Four Jamies were seated in various seats annoying Evan, Kurt, and Rogue who were the last three to arrive because they no longer had anywhere to sit. Rebecca was questioning whether every last piece of food was Kosher or not. Kitty was on her cell phone, ignoring Scott's demands that she hang up on 'Alvers.' Bobby was secretly freezing people's drinks when they weren't looking at him. The three Guthrie siblings were constantly bickering over something. Mostly, Sam kept complaining that his siblings were even looking at him. Rahne wanted to know exactly why the bathrooms had been remodeled since she had last seen them. Jubilee, Tabby, and Amara were gossiping about which boys they thought got hotter over the summer and who needed to buff up. And, of course, the food was questionable. After all, the Beast and Storm were doing all the cooking and there were twenty-six mouths to feed, so they were mass cooking everything.

"Are you sure you don't want any milk, Rebecca?" Ray asked holding up the milk jug. "It makes the bones strong."

"I'm eating chicken," Rebecca snapped. "It wouldn't be Kosher."

"I don't really understand the Kosher thing," Ray said.

"Meat and dairy cannot be eaten during the same meal," Kitty said, finally hanging up her phone when Lance told her he had to get to work. "Jewish tradition."

"Vell you don't haf to vorry about zat," Kurt said, finally kicking one of the Jamies out of a seat. "You're a vegetarian, Keety."

"I don't keep Kosher either," Kitty said. She looked at Arwen. "How about you?"

"I'm the one who stocked the fridge with Ham and Cheddar Lunchables," Arwen said with a laugh. "Take your best guess."

"That breaks, like, every law of Kosher," Rebecca cringed. "Are you sure you're Jewish?"

"Just slightly," Arwen said. "By descent. My mom is, my grandparents on her side. My dad was born and raised Catholic."

"So, did you have a big bar mitzvah and everything?" Bobby asked Rebecca as he slyly froze her water.

"_Bat_ Mitzvah," Rebecca said. "I'm a girl, and yes I did. Kitty too."

"So, did you get a lot of money and presents?" Bobby looked suddenly more interested.

"Oh yeah," Rebecca said. "A complete wardrobe change, and I still had a little left over, which my parents made me put into a bank."

"What do you know," Evan said quietly to Kurt. "A couple of JAPs."

"Something tells me zey aren't Japanese, Evan," Kurt replied.

Evan rolled his eyes. "JAP is Jewish American Princess. You know what a JAP is, right Ray."

"Got a few of them right here," Ray replied.

Jean sent a stern look down the table. "Evan, you should be setting an example for the others. Not calling people Japs."

"You don't even know was a JAP is, Jean" Evan said.

"It's a Jewish American Princess," Kurt informed her.

Evan dropped his head into his hand. "You're not supposed to tell her."

"Gee, thanks," Rebecca screwed up her nose.

"He's just joking," Kitty assured her friend. "You _were_ just joking, right Evan?"

"Of course," Evan held his hands up defensively. "I wouldn't purposely hurt you."

"Something tells me that we're going to need a bigger kitchen," Dr. McCoy said to the Professor. "We can't have this every meal. I say we let them feed themselves."

"I do believe you might be correct, Hank," the Professor replied. "What was the company that did the bathrooms? We might be able to get a discount."


	5. Long Conversations

Long Conversations

Kitty found herself paired with Paige for a Danger Room session. Paige's power was impressive, but she didn't know how it could help too much in battle. There were four pairs in the Danger Room at the time. In the center stood Logan and 'his assistant,' Evan. Arwen and Sam were one of the other pairs while Rebecca and Roberto were the other. The lesson was hand-to-hand combat without powers. The younger students had gone that morning with Scott as Logan's 'assistant' and the older students would be going after Kitty's group went.

"Don't be too sad if I hurt you," Rebecca said to Roberto. Roberto laughed and assured her that he had nothing to fear.

"You two," Logan pointed at the talking pair. "Would you like to demonstrate a short fight?"

"Sure," Rebecca smiled.

"I guess so," Roberto said.

Roberto threw the first punch, which barely missed Rebecca's head. She ducked down and did a back roll away from him, immediately getting back on her feet. When Roberto came at her again, Rebecca stood on her left foot and kicked Roberto hard in the chest, sending him back several feet and he fell to the floor.

"Where did you learn that?" Sam asked.

"Kick boxing," Rebecca responded bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Impressive, Miss Frost," Magneto commented upon viewing her own group of teenaged mutants in upstate New York, a good hour and a half from Bayville. "They are finely trained young mutants. Are you sure they can take on X-Men?"

"Better than your Brotherhood could," Emma Frost snapped. "Those boys don't even compare. My Hellions spend their days training and they eat real food, not junk. My team alone could beat all those jokes of mutants Xavier has gathered. See Jetstream? He is faster and has more control of where he goes that Xavier's Cannonball. And Catseye is able to hold a cat-like humanoid or become a cat the size of a panther, larger and more powerful than Xavier's Wolfsbane. Roulette can give all the X-Men bad luck and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat. Their whole team could not take down a single of my Hellions."

"Don't be so sure," Magneto warned. "They have excellent teamwork, which is one of their most powerful weapons. That, and determination. And Jean Grey."

"She will be separated from the rest of the X-Men this year. Her connection to them is already dimishing due to the separation to come."

Magneto nodded. He had been correct in enlisting Emma Frost to his side. She was smart, strong, and a strategist.

"There you go, Paige," Kitty encouraged the girl as their hand-to-hand combat session came to a close. Paige threw a few punches into the pads Kitty held and then finished with a roundhouse kick. "You're a natural at this."

"You think so?" Paige asked. She stuck her tongue out at her brother, but he wasn't paying attention as he finished up his own training with Arwen.

"No offense, Arwen, but you punch like a girl," Sam said taking setting down the equipment.

"No offense, Sam, but I am a girl," Arwen replied with a smile.

"Uhg, God, is she actually flirting with him?" Paige asked.

Kitty just laughed. "Do we have any more training today, Evan?" she asked as they left the room.

"I think we're doing some large group activity later tonight," Evan replied. "But right now, I have to see the Professor, see if I can't get this armor to shrink back down."

"Well, I'd say it's a bit late for lunch," Arwen said to Sam as they walked past the kitchen. "But a bit too early for dinner."

"Agreed," Sam said seeing it was three o'clock. Neither had had time to eat a lunch before their one o'clock session.

"Let's get ice cream," Arwen suggested. "There's this diner not far down the road and they have amazing ice cream cones." She smiled up at Sam.

"I'll meet you in the front room in ten minutes," Sam said. "I have to change."

"Me too," Arwen said. They separated and each went to their own room. Arwen found Rose preparing for her three thirty Danger Room Session.

"How was it?" Rose asked.

"Not too bad," Arwen said. She pulled out a pair of boy shorts and a black ribbed tank top from her dresser. "Just get a good partner."

"Oh, who'd you have?"

"Sam," Arwen said. She slipped out of her X-Suit and quickly pulled on her fresh clothes and a pair of walking sandals. "He's really sweet."

"Yeah, well I'm hoping more for someone who won't kick my ass," Rose said pulling her hair into a ponytail just as Arwen let hers down.

"Well, you're new at this, so you'll probably just get someone teaching you rather than a practice battle. Good luck."

Rose nodded and began her way out of the room. Arwen quickly ran a brush through her hair until it calmed down, then used black eye liner to rim her eyes and a quick coating of lip gloss. She put on a pair of small sapphire earring and a matching ring. She then threw her wallet into her pocket and put on an army hat and sunglasses to protect her eyes from the bright shining sun.

Sam had thrown himself on a couch while waiting for Arwen. Bobby and Ray had come to the same conclusion when he told them he was going out for ice cream with Arwen, but Sam doubted what they said. _It's not a date_. He thought to himself. _No, guys ask girls out, not the other way around. It's just going out for a snack._

"What's up with Sam?" Paige asked her younger brother when they passed each other in the hall. "He looks really confused."

"He can't figure out if he's about to head out for a date or not," Jay said. "Bobby and Ray told him that Arwen asked him on a mini-date but he's denying it."

"They were flirting in the Danger Room," Paige said.

Jay made a disgusted face. "Who'd want to date Sam?"

Paige gasped and pulled Jay to the side of the hall as Arwen left her room. Paige twisted her lips. It seemed Arwen had put effort into making herself look a little cuter than she had the day before or even earlier that morning. Arwen was definitely after her brother. "She must have had brain damage," Paige told Jay once Arwen was out of sight.

"Hey, Kitty," Rebecca said to her friend as Kitty walked into the bathroom. Over the summer, the four bathrooms had been redone with larger mirrors, two sinks each, actual stalls for the toilets, and for the showers so that more than one person could occupy the rooms at once. Two were reserved for the girls and two for the boys. It was obvious that Rebecca had just taken a shower because there was still a little steam at the top of the mirror and Rebecca had tied a towel around her hair to help absorb water. "You will never believe what Roberto did to me," Rebecca said. She pushed up the sleeve of her bathrobe to show Kitty a bruise.

"That's not actually bad at all," Kitty said. "I've had much worse. Try fighting Scott, or worse, Mr. Logan. Then you'll find out what a real bruise is."

Rebecca pouted her lip. "Why am I here again?"

"Because, even after your one week here in the summer and how I explained to you how much work it is to be here, you insisted on coming," Kitty replied. She walked into the changing stall connected to the shower stall. "Do you want your basket of toiletries?"

"Oh, yeah," Rebecca said taking it as Kitty held it out. "So, you've been living in a house with all these cute guys and haven't, like, gone out with any of them? How is that possible?"

"Why do you care?" Kitty asked.

"Because I want reassurance that they're not all, like, gay or too focused on this X-Men thing to date," Rebecca said.

Kitty laughed. "I guess part of the reason is Lance. I mean, by the time half of them came, Lance and I were, well, by the time I got to know them at least, Lance and I were starting our on off dating. And, well, that's why."

Rebecca rolled her eyes. "So, which of the guys are single?"

"Last I heard, they all were," Kitty said. "But, I haven't been keeping close track on them during the summer."

"Well, have a nice shower," Rebecca said walking out of the room.

"Popsicle, thank you for volunteering to be my partner," Logan said in his gruff voice as Bobby tried to whisper something to Tabby. "Rogue and Tabby, over there," he pointed to one set of mats. "Amara, with the elf straight behind me. And you two at the final mats. Okay, now for a few stretches."

"What? I don't need to stretch." Tabby began bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Logan looked at Rogue. "You can start whenever you're ready, Stripes. Oh, yeah, and do not go easy on her."

Rogue rolled her shoulders as Logan began stretches. "Let's get going, Tabs."

"Cookie dough or mint chocolate chip?" Arwen looked between the two tub of ice cream when she and Sam had arrived at the diner. Sam had recalled eating at the place a few times and remembered that he had especially enjoyed the food and service.

"When I go for ice cream, there are four flavors," Sam said. "Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and chocolate chip." He had bought a vanilla cone while Arwen had been slowly eliminating the flavors one by one.

Arwen laughed. "I think you might have a heart attack if you went to a Cold Stone. They have banana, cake batter, peanut butter sometimes. I think I'll go with cookie dough."

"Peanut butter ice cream?" Sam asked wrinkling his nose.

"I never tried it," Arwen said. "I'm not much of a fan of peanut butter. But the cake batter is delicious." Arwen paid for her cone, then started slowly eating it. "Just as I thought, perfect."

Sam smiled at the girl. At first, he had been almost afraid that Arwen would be a lot like Kitty, considering they came from the same area. However, on their walk, he had discovered that, while, yes, she said "pop" instead of "soda" and that she had a few mannerisms that were similar, Arwen's interests and her personality were quite different from Kitty's interests and personality.

"You've been here all summer, right?" Sam asked.

Arwen nodded. "I had absolutely no control over my powers earlier and it took me almost a month to start getting control over them. I only started being able to listen to music while suppressing my powers a few days before everyone arrived."

"Yeah, my powers still sometimes go off at random, like if I trip or something," Sam said. "But it's not like something that goes off of music. They play music almost everywhere. How did you go places?"

"I pretty much blocked it out," Arwen said. "The way I used to block out my teachers voices."

Sam laughed. "Blocking out Logan's voice?"

"Only once," Arwen replied. "He made me run laps around the grounds."

"Popsicle, what did I just say about using your powers in today's session?" Logan yelled as his hand suddenly froze.

"Uh, don't?" Bobby said timidly.

"Use them again and you will be doing three extra Danger Room sessions a day until school starts," Logan said. He grumbled a little bit. "Okay, session over. Amara, mind warming up my hand?"

"Sure," Amara smiled and took on her magma form, giving Logan's hand a good few seconds of heat.

"Time for dinner," Ray smiled. "Bobby, you coming to the kitchen with me?"

"Hell yeah," Bobby said and the two rushed to the kitchen, not even bothering to change out of their suits. As they were digging around in the cabinets, they heard the door open and turned to see Rebecca.

"Put down the cookies, kid," she snapped seeing Ray was holding a package of the Kosher cookies she had bought the night before. "I went through trouble getting those and you are _not_ eating them."

Ray was momentarily shocked. "Did you seriously call _me_ kid? I'm older than you."

"I highly doubt that," Rebecca snapped, snatching the cookies from his hand.

"Aren't you in Kitty's grade?" Bobby asked.

"What does that matter?"

"I am a year older," Ray said.

"So I was held back a year," Rebecca snapped. "You have a problem?"

"That would explain why you have a car and a license," Bobby said thoughtfully tapping his finger to his chin. "But, that doesn't mean you're any older."

Rebecca narrowed her eyes. "Stay away from my Kosher food. Both of you." With that, she walked out.

"And I thought Kitty could be high strung at times," Ray said.

"Yeah, but with Rebecca, it's kind of cute," Bobby replied.

"Favorite type of music?" Arwen asked Sam sitting under a tree with Sam.

"Country," Sam said. Arwen made a face. "What, you don't like it?"

"It can be alright," Arwen replied. "I mean, I like Faith Hill and Shania Twain and Dixie Chicks. But I'm more into oldies… or pop… or heavy metal… or any kind of rock, really… oh, and I love musicals."

Sam began laughing loudly. "Is there any kind of music you don't like?"

"I'm not too much of a fan of rap," Arwen said. "Though, I do like Will Smith, Eminem, and some of Nelly." Sam began laughing harder.

They had been under the tree and talking for well over an hour about their interests and had recently started talking about entertainment. He was determined to find out everything about her. For some strange reason, the more they talked, the more he became fascinated with her.

"You know, it's not really _that_ funny," Arwen wrinkled her nose.

Sam leaned back, propping himself on his elbows. "I'm sorry," he said. "I guess I was due for a good laugh." She allowed a soft smile to take her features. "So, my turn to ask you a question. Okay, favorite book genre?"

Arwen's smile grew. "Fantasy. I love _Harry Potter_, and _Lord of the Rings_, and _Eragon_, and _the Chronicles of Narnia_. I could go on forever. What about you?"

"I'm more of the Sci-Fi thriller type I guess," Sam said.

"Stephen King?" Arwen asked.

"Read a bunch of him," Sam nodded.

"I read _'Salem's Lot_," Arwen said. "I slept with the light on for weeks. Actually, I got most of my sleeping in class."

Sam smiled again. "That was a good one." He glanced at his watch. He wasn't exactly hungry, but something told him it was getting time to eat dinner. "Hey, it's just about six. How about we continue this inside.'

Arwen nodded. "That sounds like a good idea." Sam stood up and helped Arwen to her feet. He looked down the several inches between them for a moment, just staring at her curved lips. It took a lot of his self-control to shake himself from his reverie and let her hand go before he tried to kiss her or something.

"Where have you been, Guthrie?" Bobby asked as Arwen and Sam walked into the kitchen. There were several pizzas on the table and Bobby, Ray, and Kurt were all sitting eating. Sam could only assume they had been there since the pizza had arrived, and from the pile of DiGiorno boxes on the counter, he assumed they had been there a while.

"Are those even warm anymore?" Sam asked.

"The pepperoni is fresh out of the oven," Ray said. "Sit down and start eating before Kurt here eats it all."

Sam's eyes flickered to Arwen as she went to the cabinet and pulled out an Easy Mac cup. The action was not missed by Bobby. "Have you two been together this whole time? It's been almost three hours, plus the two hours of Danger Room…"

"Sounds to me like Bobby is jealous," Kurt said as a wicked smile crept onto Ray's face.

"I'm sure Rebecca wouldn't mind to easy your pain, Drake," Ray said unable to hide his snickers.

Bobby threw a crumbled up napkin at him in response.

"That had better not have been food flying through the air," Scott said walking into the kitchen a moment later. He took the seat next to Kurt and grabbed a slice of the sausage pizza.

"Why aren't you eating, Sam?" Bobby asked waving a hand in front of Sam's face. "Lose your appetite or something?" There was a knowing smile on his face.

"Oh, uh," Sam grabbed a piece of the pepperoni and began eating.

A few minutes later, Arwen grabbed her Easy Mac and a fork and walked out of the room. As soon as the door was closed, Bobby and Ray leaned toward Sam expectantly. It took Sam a few moments to realize this. "What?"

"Come on, three hours?" Bobby said. "What did you do?"

Scott furrowed his brow. "What's this about?"

"Cool down, Shades," Sam said. "We talked." Bobby snorted. "Oh, and it really took you forty-five minutes yesterday to direct Rebecca from the drive way to the garage?"

"That was different," Bobby snapped. "We have her Kosher proof of shopping."

"She was looking pretty good in that outfit," Ray said looking at Sam. "But I bet you were itching to see what she looked like out of it."

Scott grumbled lowly. "Crisp, keep the comments to a PG rating."

"You seriously spent all that time talking?" Bobby asked.

"Yes," Sam insisted. "Relationships have a certain order. They start with talking. From that, it progresses to other things."

Bobby smiled. "So you do like her. I knew it."

However, Bobby didn't get any more time to gloat as the Professor's voice filled everyone's head. _Everyone is to gather on the front driveway at seven. Dress in pants, tee-shirts, and gym shoes. Bring a sweatshirt for later._

"I wonder what we're doing," Sam mused. He looked at Scott.

Scott only shrugged. "I think the Professor is alone knowing this one. Hasn't mentioned a thing to me."

"Bye, Lance," Kitty said. "Don't get fired, please. I'll talk to you when you're off, 'kay? Love you too." Kitty hung up her phone and looked at Rogue. "Do you think I'll be alright in this?" She was wearing jean capris, a light pink tee-shirt, and slip-on sandals.

"Ah think ya should change into pants, and gym shoes, like the Professor said," Rogue suggested. She didn't change, but just pulled a jacket out of the closet instead of a sweatshirt. "It might be some kinda hike and it might getta bit cold."

Kitty nodded and changed into pants and pulled on a pair of gym shoes. She then grabbed a Bears sweatshirt and blushed slightly. "My dad's a big football fan. I'm not really interested, but it's a really warm shirt to snuggle in."

"Ah ain't judging ya, Kitty," Rogue claimed. "But, let's get downstairs before we're late."

When they got outside, Scott, Ms. Munroe, Dr. McCoy, and Logan were each standing several feet apart with a few of the students lined up behind each. "You're with me, Half-Pint," Logan said. He turned around and counted. "My team's all accounted for. All of you, in the van. Who else am I taking?"

"Take Jamie, Jubilee, and Arwen," Scott said. "I'm waiting for Sam and Evan."

Logna nodded and walked off.

"Rogue, dear," Dr. McCoy said gently. "You'll be with me." Rogue joined Amara, Megan, and Hector behind the Beast.

Ms. Munroe turned and counted those behind her and waved for Tabitha to join her group. "Rebecca, could you take everyone here and follow Logan?" Rebecca nodded and set off after the first group to leave.

Jean and Scott took everyone else when they finally came out in their cars.

* * *

**Hey everyone. Thanks for reading. It would be stupendous if you could also review and tell me what you like and/or don't like about the story.**


	6. Broomball and Mall

Broomball and Mall

About ten minutes after leaving the mansion, they arrived at a local ice arena. They followed the Professor inside.

"I guess this explains the sweatshirts," Kitty said pulling hers over her head as she shivered.

The professor faced all his students. "I have rented the arena out for the night," he explained. "How many of you have ever played broomball?" No one moved. "Good. As you all noticed earlier, you were divided into teams. If everyone could get organized back into those teams, now and each of you follow your instructor onto the ice."

"Uh… Charles…" Dr. McCoy began and pointed to his bare feet.

"Ah, yes, take your team to the supply closet, first, then," the Professor said.

Within ten minutes, the ice rink had been turned into two broomball courts and the teams were setting up. Unfortunately, due to his armor, Evan had to sit out with the teachers, so Jean took his place on the team. On one court, Scott's team was against Dr. McCoy's team. The other was Logan's team versus Ms. Munroe's team.

"I want Rahne and Roberto to be defense," Logan said. "Half-Pint and Leaf Girl to be offense, and Ray in goal."

"I don't do offense well," Rose said. "Not to mention, I'm not sure we're supposed to be on the ice while wearing tennis shoes."

"Well, this is a learning activity," Logan said. "Half-Pint, take to the center."

It was a powerless game, and was to teach them team work and how to adapt to new situations. Kitty walked to the center to find herself against Tabitha. "Great," she mumbled to herself. At the Professor's signal, they both went for the ball. Tabitha won, knocking Kitty down in the process. Tabitha easily wove past Rahne, passed herself the ball between Roberto's legs, and took a shot on goal. Ray barely knocked it away.

"I'm glad she's on my team," Rebecca said coming up beside Kitty.

Kitty rolled her eyes and got open for a pass from Roberto. However, before she could receive it, Jay slid between her and the ball on his knees and knocked it back down the court to his sister. Kitty gritted her teeth. She was getting shown up by everyone.

"Get moving, Half-Pint," Logan yelled. "Get aggressive."

About fifteen minutes into the first game, Kitty came up against Kurt. They collided as they both went for the ball. Kitty did the first thing she could think to do as she fell again, and that was to swing her leg around and kick the ball to Rose who stood near the goal waiting for a pass. It worked, or almost, but Paige in the goal grabbed it before Rose could hit it in.

"There you go, Half-Pint," Logan finally gave her some praise.

"Aren't you supposed to use ze broom?" Kurt asked as he helped Kitty to her feet.

"I used what I could," Kitty said. She smirked at him. "Plus, I saw you use your tail to pull back Rose a little while back."

Meanwhile, on the other court. "Jamie, that's the third goal you let in," Jean said, glaring down at the young boy.

"I told you I wasn't any good as a goalie," Jamie said.

"Shouldn't she be in goal?" Arwen asked Sam and Jubilee.

"Wanna have a team vote?" Jubilee asked. "I say put her in goal."

"Me too," Arwen said.

"Agreed," Sam nodded.

"Majority already," Jubilee smiled. She then raised her voice. "Jean, if you're so concerned with the number of goals they're getting, why don't you take goal?"

"Someone has to take charge on the court," Jean said.

"Have you thought about passing to someone else once in a while?" Sam asked. Jean shot him a dirty look. "I'll take that as a you don't trust us."

"It's not _that_," Jean began.

"But we're not as good as you?" Arwen asked.

"Hurry up and get ready to play again," Bobby yelled already at center ice.

"I'll take center," Sam said before Jean could move. "And, Jean, give Jamie some field time."

"Ya'll guys aren't gettin' along with Jean too well," Rogue mentioned to Arwen. "Ah guess she has been a bit of a ball hog this game."

"A bit?" Arwen asked. She then dashed past Rogue to where Sam had hit the ball.

After the first game was over, the two winning teams played on one court while the losing teams ended up on the other. Scott's team kicked Jean off and had Evan play on the condition that he only played goal and that he would not try to shoulder anyone for possession of the ball. This game went much smoother for both teams, though Jean was a little flustered on the sidelines. In the end, they tied and Scott and Logan shook hands, each congratulating the other on his coaching skills.

The other game was a bit more exciting as, with one minute to go, there had been no goals scored and they were just about matched person to person for talent. It came down to Bobby on a break away, with only Kurt between him and victory. He began moving faster, until a smaller figure tipped the ball not more than an inch to the side just before he shot, and what could have been a powerful hit only drove the ball lightly to Kurt's feet. Bobby turned to see Rebecca smiling at him from under her protective helmet.

"That's going to cost you, Stein," Bobby smiled despite the fact that she had blown his chance to be the team hero.

"You know, if you had passed to the left, Hector would have had a wide open shot that not even Kurt would have been able to stop," Rebecca replied. She took a step back, as if to race to the other side of the field, then stopped and turned back to Bobby. "But you have to admit, I made a fool out of you."

Bobby's jaw dropped. "Is that so?" Secretly, he made the ice crawl up around her shoes. "We'll see who the fool is." With that, he took off down the court. Rebecca tried to come after him, but found her feet stuck.

"Hey, using your powers is cheating," she yelled at Bobby.

Ms. Munroe looked at the Professor, but he just chuckled. "I believe that she has just learned a lesson as well. Never become too engaged in conversation during a battle."

In the end, Tabby drove the ball into the goal past Amara. She apologized to her friend for having to score on her, but said it had to be done by someone. To everyone's surprise but the Professor's, everyone had taken off their sweatshirt or jacket by the end of the game from the heat they built up while running. So, everyone began to pack up their stuff and put away the helmets, knee and elbow pads, and sticks. They then dragged the goals and court dividers to where the arena owner directed them to under the Professor's insistence that they help put everything away.

"Get to know your teammates," the Professor said once everyone had gathered in the lobby. "You will be working with them until school starts again in a little more than a week. Your training will be with them. You will eat with them. You will work on various projects with them. If one of your teammates causes trouble, the rest of the team will also be held responsible. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded his or her head.

"Now that that is out of the way, each team leader will treat his or her students to a dessert at the mall. We will all meet at the food court there in an hour an a half, so have fun until then."

Everyone walked across the street as a large group to the mall, and split into smaller groups from that. Most of the guys began to wander around, not really entering any stores except for places where they could screw around. All the girls immediately went to clothing and accessory stores.

"What do you think of these heels?" Rebecca asked Kitty as they stood in the Steve Madden store. She was wearing a pair of black boots.

"Can you even walk in those?" Kitty asked.

Rebecca shrugged and stood up, taking a few steps with relative ease. However, they heard a girl behind them. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and was wearing a nametag. "Not made for you," the girl said. "Your feet are too small for the black leather." She held up her finger for a moment and walked in back. She came back out a moment later with two boxes. "Here, try these on." She held out one of the boxes.

Rebecca took the box and sat down. She opened it to find the same pair of boot almost, only in dark brown. She exchanged the shoes on her feet for the ones in the box. When she stood up, she found herself a lot more comfortable. She looked in the mirror and smiled.

"Much better," the girl said. "Those just came in this morning and they're the exact same style, but fifty dollars less."

"I'll take them," Rebecca said. "Thanks," she looked at the girl's nametag, "Tip. That's an interesting name."

Tip smiled. "It's actually a nickname. My real name is top secret and rather embarrassing." She reached out her hand and shook Rebecca's. "I'll ring you up."

Kitty's attention was drawn to another pair of shoes. The black heels had a pink flower and vine design on the outside. Kitty picked it up and looked at it closely.

"Oh," Tip suddenly seemed to remember the second box. Kitty turned around, still holding the shoe, but Tip held the box open for Kitty. "I guessed six and a half."

Kitty smiled. "You're good." It was the pair that had caught her attention. "I wasn't even looking at them earlier. How'd you know?"

"I have an ability to match shoes to people," Tip said. "It's almost a hobby of mine."

Kitty looked at the price. It was just in her range. "I guess my shopping is done for the day. Ring me up."

"You girls have anyone special in mind to wear your shoes for?" Tip asked.

Rebecca smiled. "Kitty here has a boy back home. But not me. I'm all alone."

"No one you're interested in?" Tip asked.

Rebecca blushed a little. "Maybe someone," she said. "But he's way too much of a goof off to even think about doing anything involving girls but tease his friends about them."

"Well, when are you seeing him next?" Tip asked.

"In about an hour," Rebecca said. "Unless I run into him somewhere between here and the food court."

Tip smiled and leaned close. "Well, I wish you the best of luck."

Kitty wore her new shoes out of the store, eager to break them in. Plus, she didn't really like going around in gym shoes. It wasn't long before they ran into Rose, Arwen, Sam, Ray, and Bobby in the candy store.

"Kitty got taller," Ray said, noticing that Kitty was coming up slightly higher than she had earlier.

"Yes, Kitty has learned an amazing new skill," Sam said. "It's one frequently called changing shoes."

Rebecca, however, turned her attention to Bobby. She smiled up at him and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. He was glancing at her too. After a moment, he turned to look at her straight on.

"Like what you see?" she asked quietly as a smirk crawled onto her face.

"A hell lot more than you know," he replied. Rebecca began to blush, and it only grew as Bobby grabbed her hand and pulled her to stand in front of him, her back to him. He leaned forward and rested his chin on her shoulder and smiled as he wrapped his arms around her waist. "You, Rebecca, are one sexy girl."

This exchange did not go unnoticed by their fellow X-Men. "What's gotten into him?" Rose asked glancing at Ray, then Sam.

Both shrugged. "You know, there's a photo booth around the corner, if you two want to be alone?" Ray said pointing outside.

"Ray!" Kitty snapped, but she could hear Rebecca's giggles.

"I was just joking," Ray said as Bobby picked up Rebecca, threw her over his shoulder, and carried her out of the store.

"Put me down, Bobby," Rebecca yelled. Yet, through the yells, laughter could be heard.

"Well, she didn't put up too much of a struggle," Sam said.

"I think Rebecca wanted to be carried away," Kitty said. "I'm not surprised."

"I really don't understand why your team doesn't like me, Scott," Jean complained as the two walked through a video store. "I was only trying to help them."

"I guess you were just a bit too hardcore for them," Scott said.

"Too hardcore?" Jean asked in a loud and accusing voice. "I was only trying to help them win."

Scott stepped back and shrugged. "Sometimes it's not about winning. Sometimes it's about having fun. You, well, I don't want to say you took the fun out of the game… but…"

Jean stared down the man behind the red shades. "You're siding with them?"

"I'm not _siding_ with anyone," Scott said. "But I understand where both sides are coming from, and I guess I'm just trying to help you see it their way… as I will help them see it your way tomorrow during the five AM morning warm-up I have planned."

Jean crossed her arms and wrinkled her nose, but argued no more about it.

Tabitha and Amara were wandering around a rather thrifty clothes and accessory store, looking at the interesting dresses and skirts sold. Tabby could tell her best friend was down, but was having trouble figuring out why. Amara briefly looked at several skirts that usually would have grabbed her interest, but didn't even bother to take the hanger off the rack to look at it from a different perspective.

"What's got you down, Mara?" Tabby finally asked.

"It's nothing," Amara responded continuing her shifting through the clothes.

"It has to be something," Tabby said. She paused for a moment, then continued, "Or is it a someone?"

"No, it is not a someone," she snapped, which was exactly how Tabitha knew it was.

"You're jellin'," Tabitha laughed. "Okay, let's see. Tell me you're not hung up on Sam, please. I told you, that would never work."

"So you think he's that much better going after Arwen?" Amara asked. Tabby tried to put in a word, but Amara continued talking, "I mean I know we were never going out, or even went on a date. But, I kind of liked him, and I thought he kind of liked me."

"Look, Mara," Tabby began as she was shifting through some more dresses. "Boys will be boys. And, anyway, Sam might be a little cute, but he's really gangly and from Kentucky. You can do _so_ much better than that. Plus, the school year is about to begin and you don't want to limit yourself to the Institute boys. Find some hot football jock to take you to the start of the school year dance. That'll have Sam crawling back, if you still even want him."

Amara sighed. "I don't think I want anything, Tabs. Not from here at least."

Tabitha frowned at her inability to make her friend happy. "Okay, then. What do you want to do?"

"You can choose," Amara sighed.

Tabby smiled. "To the candy shop it is!" She began leading the way. When they were a few stores away, Kitty, Ray, Sam, Rose, and Arwen all walked out together. Tabby could see Amara's eyes lock on Sam's actions; how he held the door open for Arwen and how he walked in step with the girl and offered her a piece of candy from his bag. Tabby sighed. "I guess this was a bad idea."

Kitty separated from the group she was with, deciding to find Rebecca and Bobby before any real damage could be done. She knocked on the side of the photo booth and then opened the curtain. Rebecca was straddling Bobby and he was holding her close with his hands on the very top of her thighs, just bordering touching her butt. They were heavily making out until the light poured in.

"Next time I'm just slipping a quarter in the slot so I'll have some scandalous pictures of you two," Kitty said when they pulled their lips apart and looked at her. "Get a move on it, we have to be at the food court in three minutes."

Rebecca sighed and climbed off Bobby's lap. "We were just having some innocent fun, Kitty."

"Your innocent fun ended when you played your first junior high game of Truth or Dare," Kitty reciprocated.

Kitty began down the hall toward the food court with Bobby and Rebecca in tow. Along the way, she stuck her head in five stores to get the attention of a few other mutants that had seemed to lose track of the time. In the end, she was leading nine mutants to the meeting spot.

"Bobby, why're ya'll wearin' lip gloss?" Rogue asked when he joined the rest of his team at the near the ice cream shop.

Bobby licked his lips quickly. "Tastes sort of like apple pie," he said and smiled. "And who said anything about it starting on my lips?"

Rogue rolled hr eyes. "Ah shoulda known," she sighed. "So, who's the gal the gloss started on?"

Bobby turned and pointed to Rebecca, who was laughing with Tabitha and Kurt. Ms. Munroe had taken her team to a small pie shop and each of them was picking out a slice.

"What kind on ice cream do you all want?" Dr. McCoy asked. "Or would you rather have a milk shake, or something else on the menu?"

"I'll have a vanilla milkshake," Amara said. She knew vanilla was Sam's favorite. She decided it would be something to use to flirt with him. Bobby didn't miss the glance she sent in the direction of Sam and Arwen.

"You're not stressing over those two, are you?" he asked with a hint of a glint in his eyes.

"Who said anything about stressing?" Amara asked.

"Jealous?"

"No!"

"Confused?"

"Bobby, would you just cut it out?" Amara asked. "I am not… maybe a little."

"Want some help, then?"

"Not from you, no," Amara said.

"I'm his best friend," Bobby looked offended. "What could go wrong?"

Amara stared at him for a moment. "Everything." She then walked off, milkshake in hand to where Sam and Arwen stood. They both had fruit smoothies, reminding her they were on the same team. "Hey, Sam." She smiled at the boy. She then reached out a hand to Arwen. "I don't think we've officially met, Arwen. I'm Amara."

Arwen shook her hand. "It nice to meet you," Arwen said smiling. Amara immediately felt bad. Arwen was nice, really nice. And Sam seemed genuinely interested in the girl, she didn't feel she should stand in the way.

"That seems simple enough," Fred said when Mystique told the Brotherhood what Magneto wanted them to do. Toad was to track Arwen, and immediately alert the rest of the Brotherhood if she left the Mansion gates without any of the Institute's instructors. Depending on the number of others she traveled with would determine if the Brotherhood would attack. Their goal was to capture her without being caught by any of the X-Men. The X-Men were all too dedicated to Xavier, so only another mutant new to the school as well, such as Rose, would be allowed to be caught as well.

"But, remember, no other mutants unless they are on that list," Mystique said, gesturing to the list in Pietro's hand.

"Hey, what if we get her, but they follow?" Duke asked.

Mystique smiled. "You, Duke, are only to watch. Tip as well. But, if you can't beat them, then don't take her. We can't have anyone telling her that her loyalty should be to Xavier. Magneto wants her on our side so that she doesn't screw with his plans."

"And what plans are those again?" Todd asked.

"Paradise Island," Mystique growled. "A paradise for all mutants to live away from the homo sapiens that hate and fear us."

"Doesn't this Magneto guy usually want to take over the world?" Nick asked.

"That will come in time," Mystique said. "Once the island is established and all mutants have learned to work together against the humans."

* * *

**Please, please, please leave a review!!! I'd love you oh so much.**


	7. Failed Attempts and Broken Grounds

**Please, oh please, review!!! I beg of you. **

* * *

Failed Attempts and Broken Grounds

Scott and Ms. Munroe were working together leading their teams on an early morning run. Scott led the group while Ms. Munroe brought up the rear. Logan and Jean (taking over for Dr. McCoy in the public streets) were on the same path going in the opposite direction, Jean leading while Logan was threatening the rear. Logan, however, was much closer to Jean than Ms. Munroe was to Scott. It seemed that Arwen, Jay, and Rebecca all were very short of breath and had very quickly fallen behind the rest of their group, and no matter how much Ms. Munroe tried, she couldn't give them the encouragement they needed to go faster.

Toad watched this very carefully and reported every ten minutes that it would be a fine opportunity to attack because Jay and Rebecca were too winded to fight and Ms. Munroe wouldn't possibly be able to defeat all the Brotherhood alone. However, just when the Brotherhood seemed about to cave, Jean and her group showed up. Logan smelled Toad out and Toad fled for his own safety.

"What do you suppose Toad was doing in the park?" Scott asked as he ate lunch. All the students, aside from Rogue, Kurt, Evan, and Kitty who were the most used to rigorous training, were too tired to eat even.

"Probably looking for flies," Kurt said taking three left over slices of pizza from the fridge and placed in the microwave. "Even ze Brotherhood mutants need to eat."

"They eat more than you do, Kurt," Kitty said, "as hard as that is to believe."

"And now that Lance is gone, who do you suppose feeds them?" Jean asked.

"I have a feeling that Magneto is still in the picture for them," Scott said. "And Alvers won't stay gone for too long."

Kitty wrinkled her nose "I'll have you know that, yes, Lance is coming back to Bayville, but, no he's not living with the Brotherhood. He'll be renting a small efficiency apartment on the opposite side of town from the Brotherhood house."

"Kitty, Avlers is bad news," Scott said.

"No he isn't," Kitty argued. "He's become responsible, and he now owns jeans without holes in the knees, and he has had a job at Domino's all summer and is getting transferred to the one here, so he'll be balancing work and school."

"School?" Scott asked. "Alvers?"

"He's finishing up high school, now that Principal Kelly got over-ruled by the district in an attempt to ban all mutants from the school. He's going back."

"Good fer him," Rogue smiled. She then turned to Kurt as he took the pizza out of the microwave. "Hand me a pieca that pizza, will ya, Kurt?"

"But…"

"Come on, Kurt," Rogue smiled. "Ah'm your sister. We hafta look out fer one another." Kurt sighed and passed her a piece.

"Can I, like, have one too, Kurt?" Kitty asked. She giggled and batted her eyes. Kurt groaned and passed her a piece as well. As he turned to his final piece, he noticed that it was floating, and right to Jean.

"Thanks, Kurt," Jean said taking a bite. "Hope you don't mind."

"Only just a little," Kurt sighed and returned to the fridge.

The students didn't really have any free time until five o'clock. They were all given a three-hour dinner break (it was three hours to allow those too tired to cook some time to nap or go to a restaurant). That is exactly what Arwen, Rose, Rebecca, Sam, Bobby, and Ray decided to do. Because there were too many to fit in Rebecca's car, her car only seated five, they were walking. As soon as Quicksilver spotted them leave through the gates (he had taken over for Toad) he reported to the Brotherhood.

Quicksilver tailed the six to the diner that Sam and Arwen had gotten cones at the day earlier and called to the others with where the group had stopped.

"How could you eat that triple bacon cheeseburger and still have room for ice cream?" Rebecca asked Bobby. "It's like you're a bottomless pit or something."

"Hey, I need to eat a lot to fuel these muscles," Bobby said flexing his arm.

"What muscles?" Ray asked. "You're flexing pure bone."

Rose giggled and flexed her own arm. "What about me?"

"You actually have some muscles," Ray said, even though her arm was smaller than Bobby's.

"Now this is muscle," Rebecca said flexing. She actually had quite the impressive muscle for a girl. "That's what three years of kick boxing will do for you."

"I don't flex," Arwen said. "It's too much stress for my fragile muscles to handle. Bobby knows what I'm talking about, right?"

"Ha ha," Bobby rolled his eyes. "Shut up now."

"Let's take care of this bill and get going," Sam said, noticing that a third group of people had come in, spotted them, and turned around. The workers were glaring at them for scaring away business. "I'm sure the workers would appreciate it."

Everyone pulled out their wallets, but Rebecca waved them off and pulled out a credit card. "My treat this time," she said.

"Even though we made your little leg muscles walk all that distance?" Bobby asked.

"My little leg muscles are a little bigger than yours," she replied with a grin. "And actually, it's my daddy's treat."

As soon as Rebecca got her credit card back, the six made their way out of the restaurant, only to see Quicksilver, Blob, Toad, and Nuclear.

"Just keep walking," Sam said, noticing Bobby and Ray both prepare for a fight. Bobby nodded and turned toward the Institute, but took no more than a step before Quicksilver cut off his path.

"Not so quick there, Iceman," Quicksilver snapped. "Someone has to pay for the other night, and that someone is going to be you."

"Try me," Bobby snapped, covering his whole body in ice.

"Bobby, no," Rebecca tried to place a hand on his shoulder, but Bobby already jumped at Quicksilver.

Quicksilver dodged easily as Bobby came at him. The other five students from the Institute left their attention to those two, until Arwen screamed. While not paying attention to the rest of the Brotherhood boys, Toad had grabbed Arwen's waist in his tongue and pulled her half way to him and Blob. Sam tried to catch her wrist, but Nuclear stepped in between and began glowing.

"Who the hell are you?" Sam asked, ready to cannonball.

"The name's Nuclear," he said. He wore a metallic green bodysuit.

"Prepare to be dead meat." Sam growled and set off.

Nuke dropped to the ground, out of Sam's path, then blasted Ray with his radioactive energy when Ray tried to zap him with electricity.

"That wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be," Blob said grabbing Arwen's wrist.

"Think again," Arwen growled and pulled her mp3 player from her purse. She had barely pressed play and plugged one earphone in when Blob and Toad both found themselves on fire and released Arwen from their grips. Before Arwen could turn around even, Nuke blasted her as well and she crashed to the ground, her earphones falling out.

Sam arrived back on the scene just as Quicksilver tried to intercept a fallen Arwen. Bobby iced the ground, causing Quicksilver to slip right past her, then iced everything from Quicksilver's waist and down in thick ice so he couldn't move.

As Toad tried to grab Arwen again, Rose got his attention. "If you're a toad, where's your lily pad?" she yelled as a giant lily pad sprung up from under his feet. "Sorry, that's a Venus flytrap," and the plant changed form and slammed close so that only Toad's head and right leg were sticking out.

Arwen pushed herself off the ground, grabbing her earphones, ready to get back at Nuclear, when she saw something across the street hiding behind a tree. Her eyes widened. "Duke?" she called. His eyes widened as well and he turned and began to run. Arwen went chasing after him. Rose tried to follow, but Toad caught her in his tongue for trapping him in the Venus flytrap.

"Arwen!" Rebecca called out to the girl, but it was no use. She turned to Bobby and Ray. "Do something!"

"Right," Bobby nodded as he and Ray chased after her. Sam would have, but he had almost pulled Rose free from the Toad.

Nuclear tried to follow the boys as well. "I don't think so," Rebecca yelled and threw some bad luck at him, causing him to trip on his untied shoelaces and misfire his energy, hitting Toad. Toad, from the shock of the radioactive blast, then released Rose so quickly that Sam accidentally cannonballed behind the building with her.

"Odds aren't looking too good for you," Blob said, closing in on Rebecca now that she was all alone with the Brotherhood boys.

"Oh, no, the odds always look good for me," she replied. "That's why they call me Clover."

Nuclear stood, ready to fire at her, when Cannonball struck him from behind and he went flying hard and fast into Blob, setting off a massive amount of energy, taking them both Nuclear and Blob out.

"You two get back to the Institute," Sam yelled. "I'll catch up to the others." Rose and Rebecca nodded and began running to the Institute, Rebecca using her powers to increase their luck as they went.

Duke quickly rounded a corner down the road some ways. Arwen cut across the lawn, gaining a few feet on him. Bobby and Ray were quickly gaining on Arwen as she just couldn't run as fast and as hard as the boys. However, as Bobby and Ray approached some bushes, something made them slow down and stop, pheromones filling the air around them. They turned to see a beautiful blue-eyed girl sitting on the other side of the bushes twirling her shining blonde locks. She told them to get on their knees and beg her for mercy, so they both did.

Sam cannonballed when he saw Arwen at the end of a block about to turn up a long, private driveway. He flew right past the oblivious Bobby and Ray and tackled Arwen to the ground on the far side of the driveway that led to the Brotherhood residence.

"What were you thinking, Arwen?" Sam yelled seeing how close to the Brotherhood entrance they were. He knew that they probably had Wanda inside, just ready to take _her_ anger out on some poor victim.

"It's Duke," Arwen pointed to the body disappearing past the bushes. Sam looked up, then back at Arwen. He stood and reached a hand to help her. Duke, spying on the two, made his eyes glow for a second. He knew Arwen very well, and he knew that she would follow him unless her mind was stuck on something else, just like the blonde boy's mind was obviously stuck on her. There was no way Arwen could follow without him trailing her, but he'd make a nice distraction.

Arwen's cheeks blushed as she took Sam's hand. He helped her to her feet, but she stumbled into his chest where he held her for a moment to steady her. "You okay?" Sam asked, noticing she was sort of nuzzling into his chest.

"Yeah," Arwen said looking up into his eyes. "I'm good." She smiled shyly up at him and he returned one.

"Okay, then," Sam held her shoulders steady. "Who's Duke?"

"He's a friend," Arwen said briefly, trailing a few fingers along Sam's chin. Sam caught her hand and pulled it from his face, so she continued. "Rose's younger brother."

He nodded his head towards where they came from. "Let's get back to the others before they start to worry."

"Sounds good, Sam," Arwen said entwining her fingers in his.

Ray and Bobby saw Sam and Arwen approaching and Bobby smirked. Neither of them remembered the girl. "I've been wondering when he'd make a move," Bobby said.

Ray chuckled then furrowed his brow. "What happened to us, Iceman?"

"I, uh… I don't know," Bobby admitted.

"It would seem that your brother is a mutant, Rose," the Professor told the girl later in the living room. "However, I cannot understand the Brotherhood's purpose to recruit him or understand his power."

"If Arwen's new actions toward Sam have anything to do with Duke, then I'd say he messes with the head and feelings," Rose replied. "I know Arwen. She's not a 'go getter' when it comes to boys. But last I saw, she was all over Sam."

"You can say that again," Ray said plopping down on a sofa next to Rose and slyly slipping an arm around her. She narrowed her eyes at him and he promptly removed the arm. "Anyway, someone ought to tell them to close the door next time they want to make out."

"Something tells me you don't want to talk about that in front of Professor Xavier," Rose whispered.

"Don't mind me," the Professor said wheeling back to his office.

Rose looked at Ray. "Did you say make out?" Ray nodded. "But, it was like the gentle make out, right?"

Ray barked a laugh. "No, it was the all-over one another type." He smiled and leaned closer to Rose. "If you don't understand, I can demonstrate with you."

"No, thank you," Rose said standing.

"What I don't understand is why the Brotherhood attacked that group and not, say, me and Kurt," Scott said. He and Kurt had gone to a diner that was actually closer to the Brotherhood house, but had heard nothing of the commotion until they had returned to the mansion. "Why attack a group of six, where they were out-numbered when they could have attacked a group of two, where it would have been two to one?"

"Zey know zat zey haf less field experience," Kurt said. "Ze girls had none."

"And they didn't seem there to really hurt anyone," Jean said. "More like they were there to cause a commotion or… they were looking for weaknesses."

"Whoever's running the Brotherhood now doesn't want to hurt us, but to know how to subdue us," Scott said.

"Or capture us," Kitty said. Jean, Scott, Kurt, and Rogue all looked at her as they continued to wait for the Professor, Logan, Dr. McCoy, and Ms. Munroe to come to the conference room. "Think about it. If it hadn't been for Sam, Arwen would have walked right into the Brotherhood's house. And there had to be a reason that both Bobby and Ray stopped chasing her. They've got this new mutant, Nuclear, who the other's said has radioactive energy blasts and is fairly powerful. He might be in charge."

"Doubtful," Rogue said. "They said he looked about fifteen. Jest 'cause he's a little nuke bomb ready ta go off doesn't give him too much power ta someone like Pietro or Wanda."

"I agree vith Rogue," Kurt said. "He's too young."

"Have you kids reached any conclusions yet or am I going to have to baby-sit those other kiddies every time they go out?" Logan asked walking into the room.

"Maybe," Kitty said.

"Ah do agree that they were lookin' fer weaknesses," Rogue said.

"And zat zey want to capture at least Arwen," Kurt put in.

"What's so special about Spunk?" Logan asked.

"You've seen what she can do when she lets loose," Scott said. "Can you just imagine her destructive force if she was listening to the wrong person?"

"Good point, Scott," Professor Xavier commented as he, Dr. McCoy, and Ms. Munroe entered the room. He looked at Kitty, Rogue, and Kurt. "You three have more training tomorrow, so, please, do a quick room check of all the other students then get to bed yourselves." Once the three left, he said, "I wonder if they realize how lucky they were that Wanda was not with the Brotherhood during that attack?"

"Doubt it, Charles," Logan replied.

"Do you suppose that Mystique or Magneto is working with the Brotherhood again?" Ms. Munroe asked.

"Considering they have adopted Nicholas Arnold, who disappeared before I could arrive at his house in Kansas, and Duke Trelin, who I had hardly detected on Cerebro into their team, I'd say it's a probability, Ororo," the Professor replied.

"Kitty," Rogue complained as her perky roommate laughed out loud while on the phone. "It's one in the morning. Can you get off the phone and get to bed? We have training in four hours."

Kitty sighed loudly. "I'm sorry, Lance," Kitty said, "but someone is being grumpy." She briefly stuck her tongue out at Rogue. "I'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye."

"Bye, Kitten," Lance replied and he heard the click from his girlfriend's end. He had been spending the summer at one of his old friend's house and paying a minimal rent for use of the room, phone, utilities, and his breakfast every morning. He hung up the phone and sighed. He couldn't wait another four days before seeing her again, but he had to. He was making himself better because it was the only way he'd ever be able to be with Kitty. It wasn't something she told him, or something he even completely believed. But, he knew that if he didn't make himself better, he would never be satisfied that he was giving what she deserved. He hadn't even graduated high school and he almost expected that he could give her a good life? No. He loved her, so he wasn't going to make her suffer his poor life, but he wasn't willing to give her up either. So, he was going to finish high school, save up money for a few years, and get into any college he could, even if it was only a junior college, so he could get a semi-decent job.

It was late, but Lance decided to take a walk. He had walked several blocks to a park when he stopped. He sat down on the earth and then lied on his back. The blades of grass underneath him was soothing, but luckily not soothing enough. He heard a twig snap and was on his feet in a second.

Kitty stood before him, dressed in her pajamas and smiling shyly. She had let her hair down and it blew slightly in the breeze. If he had not just talked to Kitty a few minutes earlier, he might have believed it was her.

"Who are you?" Lance asked, narrowing his eyes.

"What do you mean, Lance? It's me, Kitty."

"No," he shook his head. "Kitty's in New York, which means I'm either dreaming, or you're Mystique."

A smile grew on the girl's face. "Good job, Lance," Mystique's voice came as she took on her true form. "However, your ability to tell the difference will not save you. But, I have come to make a deal."

"I don't want to hear it," Lance said turning around.

"It could save Kitty's life," Mystique said. "It could even save her love for you." Lance stopped walking, but refused to turn to face the blue woman, so she continued. "It would seem that the rest of the Brotherhood was unable to do what I feel you could accomplish alone. You retrieve Arwen Westbrook next time she leaves the Institution, and Kitty continues to love you. If you fail, she might fall in love with someone else, say, Scott Summers. And he might just fall in love with her as well."

"And if I refuse to try?"

"Well, you will be rendered helpless to do anything to warn her, and when the Institution gets taken over, she might not live through the struggle."

It was situations like these that kept pulling him away from the life he wanted. He was in a lose-lose situation. Do what Mystique told him to, and Kitty'd become angry with him for betraying her trust. However, he couldn't let Kitty get hurt.

Lance slowly turned to face Mystique. She was smiling, like she knew he'd see her side of things. "We leave now, Lance."

Lance shook his head. "I still have three nights of work." Mystique furrowed her brow. "And you're getting buried alive." The ground split open beneath her feet and she fell into the deep crevice. Then, before Mystique could get out again, Lance used his powers to close the earth again leaving a line of dirt where the earth had opened up. Loosening up, Lance turned around to return to his friend's house and call Kitty to report what Mystique had just said. Unfortunately, he came face to face with Magneto.

"Your determination is strong," he said, "but your efforts are fruitless."

"Bring it on, Tinman," Lance said, clenching his fists and preparing to fight again.

"I believe you know my Acolytes," Magneto said, rising in the air as Gambit, Pyro, Sabretooth, and Mastermind all appeared surrounding Lance. "Would you like to take your chances against them?"

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	8. The Attacks in the Woods

The Attacks in the Woods

"Forty-eight, forty-nine," Logan counted off as his group did left-armed push-ups. "Fifty. Good job."

Rose didn't like the fact that they were taking an over night trip in the woods. After having been attacked by the Brotherhood the just a few days before, she felt that only bad could come of it, though she was happy being surrounded by rich plant life and glad that Logan was her group leader. No one was happy about waking at four to leave for the trip.

"Does that mean we get to eat breakfast now?" Ray asked.

"As soon as you cook it," Logan said. "Which means you'll need a fire."

The group sighed. "We'll start collecting sticks and such."

"I've got that," Rose said. She concentrated and several small trees grew in a circle around her. "Someone has a hatchet, right?"

Within a few minutes, the group had built a fire, glad for Roberto being able to start a fire quickly. Logan then opened the cooler he had forced Roberto and Ray to drag to their campsite. Inside were several fish, a bag of bagels, cream cheese, a small salad for each of them, burgers, buns, and (because Kitty was a vegetarian) one Boca Burger. Logan grabbed the two plastic bags with the fish and the bagels. From his own bag he pulled several tools and set up two cooking racks, one to cook the fish and a second so that everyone could heat up their bagels. Soon, everyone was eating a bagel as they waited for their fish to finish cook. Everyone had brought three bottles, two of water and one of their choice drink. Kitty smirked seeing that only Ray had been stupid enough to bring a soda, Dr. Pepper to be exact.

"You are aware that pop dehydrates you, right?" Kitty asked.

"Who calls it 'pop'?" Ray asked in a teasing tone.

"Hey, pop is the proper way to refer to it," Rose said.

"Maybe in the remote land you come from," Ray reciprocated.

"Chicago land?" Kitty asked. "You know, the center of the country."

"Very insightful topic you've chosen," Logan growled softly.

"Very insightful, indeed, Wolverine," an old man's voice floated through the air. Logan jumped to his feet and his eyes darted upward, spotting Magneto floating above them. The old man slowly lowered himself to the ground as the rest of his Acolytes appeared out of the trees. Logan didn't know how he had missed their scent, unless they had just arrived.

"What do you want, old man?" Logan asked.

"Why, I want you all," Magneto replied. With a flick of his hand, Logan went flying into a tree.

"Get outta here," Logan yelled to his students. They went running, Rahne and Roberto in one direction and Kitty, Rose, and Ray in the opposite. Magneto sent Pyro and Sabretooth after the two, while he, Mastermind, and Gambit went after the other three. As for Logan, Magneto had brought a large, metal box. Magneto flung Logan inside and then slammed it shut.

Miles away, in another clearing, Evan, Arwen, Sam, Jamie, and Jubilee all stared in shock at Scott doing a series of yoga moves. They couldn't figure out how Scott could bend the way he was, or, more importantly, how they were supposed to.

"My armor doesn't bend that way," Evan finally said once Scott turned to his team.

"Just try," Scott said. "Everyone, on the ground. Now reach forward and grab your toes."

"I definitely cannot do that," Evan said as his armor prevented him from being able to bend as far forward as the others. Sam, as well, was trying and not succeeding in grabbing his toes. Arwen and Jubilee both bent forward and easily grabbed their toes (Jubilee all out grabbed her feet and still had a little flexibility to bend her arms) and Jamie could just touch his toes.

"Okay," Scott said. "Good, you three. And, you two…"

Arwen suddenly snapped to a sitting position. "Shh…" Her eyes scanned the general area, finally focusing on a spot behind Scott. He turned around. "Someone's coming."

"I don't see…" Jamie began.

"You can't," Arwen said. "I hear them." Her eyes grew wide. "Sam, it's that guy with the white hair. The fast one."

"Quicksilver!" Evan growled jumping to his feet, a few spikes popping out.

"Are you sure?" Scott asked. However, before he could be answered, a quick wind overtook the clearing and Quicksilver stood before them. Unbeknownst to the small group, Toad, Nuclear, and Pheromones had been watching them the whole time, and now jumped out of the near by trees… well, Toad and Nuclear did, while Pheromones more slowly lowered herself until she fell out, landing on her butt.

"Threatening," Evan let out a laugh.

"Me?" Pheromones smiled. She wore thigh high gold leather boots with thin stiletto heels, black booty shorts, and a gold tube top that still exposed her flat stomach. "You should be scared." She took a few sauntering steps towards Evan, blowing lightly into the air around him. "Aren't I what you dream about?"

"Exactly," Evan responded, his guard down as if he was in a trance.

"Spyke…" Scott began, but Quicksilver cut in.

"I'll grab the girl, you all subdue the others," he yelled.

Scott hit Quicksilver with his laser beams quickly before he jumped into his bag for his visor. Meanwhile, Nuclear shot a blast of energy at Sam. Arwen pulled him out of the way and clutched tightly to him. Toad went after Jubilee, but found himself face to face with seven Jamie's suddenly. Jubilee used the slight moment to send up warning fireworks, hoping another group would see them and come to their aid.

"Can't you just feel the relaxing effect of nature?" Ms. Munroe asked her students as they sat at the top of a small mountain they had spent a good portion of the morning hiking. Tabitha rolled her eyes and Rebecca giggled slightly. "I want you to all close your eyes, and connect with nature."

"I bet you'd rather connect with Bobby," Tabitha whispered to Rebecca.

"And please, don't ruin it by talking, Tabitha," Ms. Munroe continued.

All the students but Jay closed their eyes. Jay wasn't exactly tired, but he had an overwhelming feeling of sadness. He stared out over the forest, wondering what the other groups were doing. He doubted they were meditating. He saw a few weird things, but they were too far away to make out what exactly was happening, and if the things were actually weird, or just his imagination. However, when fireworks began going off, he knew it was more than just his mind.

"Ms. Munroe," he shouted. The white-haired weather witch opened her eyes.

"Yes, Jay?" she asked, but her answer was given by the boom of the fireworks.

"That's gotta be Jubes," Tabitha said standing up.

"You all stay here," Ms. Munroe said. "I'll check it out." She stood up and began flying toward the fireworks. Once she was a good distance off, they heard a twig snap behind them. There stood the Scarlet Witch.

"Vhat do you vant, Scarlet Vitch?" Kurt asked.

"Nothing much," she said, and lifted her hands over hear head. The ground beneath them began to tremble, and suddenly they were in a large metal box, similar to the one that Logan was thrown into. Jay flew out while Kurt grabbed Rebecca, Tabitha, and Paige, about to port. But, before he could do so, Scarlet Witch closed the top. When Kurt tried to port, he found he couldn't get out of the box.

"Uh oh," Kurt said.

"That had better be a good 'uh oh', Blue," Tabitha said.

"It's not," Kurt said. "Ve're stuck in here. I can't port out."

"Nice wings, kid," Scarlet Witch said. "What do they call you?"

"Uh…" Jay suddenly realized the Professor had not yet given him a name, so he quickly came up with one on his own, using a Greek myth about Daedalus and Icarus escaping the island Crete. "Icarus."

"Well then, Icarus," Scarlet Witch began, but Jay knew better than to hang around. He dove down and began gliding to where he knew Logan's group was, feeling that he'd be the best to warn. "Four out of five ain't bad." Plus, all she cared about was that she trapped Tabitha.

"Megan, Amara, Rouge," Jean began, "You'll come with me."

"And you two boys will come with me," Dr. McCoy said. "Remember, this is a powerless hike. We'll see you girls at the other side of the river."

There were two possible trails to use for a hike that crossed the small river, neither that were good for a group of seven. Even the group of four girls was pushing the limit of the trails, but it would have to suffice. After five minutes, the girls could still hear the boys yelling and laughing as they went about the hike. Jean tried to remember to stay friendly.

When they got to the river, Jean wrinkled her nose. The other girls didn't need to ask why. Several large blocks of ice were floating toward them from where the boys were.

"What happened ta no powers?" Rogue asked.

"Two groups can play at that game," Jean smiled. Megan jumped up and lightly few across the river while Jean used her telekinesis to lift the other three girls across the river.

"This just became a race," Rogue asked, "didn't it?"

"Oh yeah," Jean replied.

"Then I suggest we get a move on it," Amara said.

"You won't be going anywhere," a voice called out from overhead. They all looked up to see a blonde woman in white clothes along with two other mutants, one that was a cat-humanoid and a girl in a dark cloak.

"Who are you?" Jean asked trying to read the woman's mind, until she felt a splitting headache.

The woman shook her head. "You won't be able to read my mind, Ms. Grey."

The humanoid jumped from the tree at Megan while the cloaked girl pulled out a pack of Tarot cards and three figures appeared. One was a knight with dark armor upon a black horse. The second was a cloaked figure carrying a scythe. The third appeared to be a king with several swords. Each grabbed one of the girls.

Rogue tore off her glove and grabbed the knight that had grabbed her, but nothing happened to it. Amara tried to get the cloaked figure to let her go, but even in her fiery magma form, he held her tight. And Jean's headache from Emma was too great to even allow her to fight the king of swords. Catseye held tight to Megan as she struggled against the cat-girl.

"Let's go," Emma said jumping from the tree and she began leading the group further into the forest to one of the large metal boxes Magneto had strategically planted. They threw all four girls in and then Tarot's figures lifted the lid and closed the box.

Dr. McCoy approached a large metal box with caution. He jumped up and grabbed the top and lifted himself up to see the inside of it. Suddenly a black disk flew through the air, striking Dr. McCoy's back. He lost his balance and fell in.

As Bobby and Hector turned to see what had thrown the disk, a purple blur flew at them, grabbing Hector and dropping him on Dr. McCoy already in the box. Bobby tried to fight, but realized he was outnumbered, a lot to him.

As a large man came running at him, Bobby rethought fighting. He turned to ice and fled forming ice blocks along the way to protect himself. However, whoever it was behind him was catching up fast.

Rahne and Roberto ran into a trap. Sabretooth managed to head them off and grab onto Rahne. As much as she struggled, she couldn't loosen herself from Sabretooth's grip. He wrapped a hand tightly around her neck. "Try anything, and she'll never bark again," Sabretooth warned Roberto.

"What do you want from us?" Roberto demanded, but before he could have his question answered, Pyro crept up behind him and hit his head with a rock, effectively knocking him out.

"Roberto!" Rahne yelled.

"Shut her up, Mate," Pyro said, lifting the unconscious boy onto his shoulder.

"Grab my hands," Kitty yelled reaching out a hand to Rose and Ray. As soon as she felt them grab on, she phased and dragged them under the ground. Before they knew it, they landed in an underground cave.

"How'd you know about this place?" Ray asked as he stood and reached out a hand to both girls.

"Tell you the truth, I didn't,' Kitty said. She squinted, but couldn't see anything. "Anyway you could give us a little light, Ray?"

"Uh, a real little if I don't want to hurt anyone," he said. Tiny bits of electricity started crackling on both his hands, giving off a tiny, unsteady glow. They chose a direction and began walking.

Logan extended his claws and made to slice through the metal box. No such luck. When his claws hit, they only made a high-pitched scratching squeal that made him cringe.

"That's enough of those," Nuclear yelled at Jubilee and shot a blast of energy at her. However, before he could make another move, lightning struck at his feet and a heavy rain came down. Ms. Munroe floated downward.

"Oh shit," Quicksilver said, sensing the danger. "I'll get Magneto." Before he could be stopped, he zipped off.

"Too bad you left your team alone," Pheromones said. "They'll probably be needing you right about now."

"What's that mean," Scott asked grabbing her wrist and staring down at her.

"You don't think you're the only team getting attacked," she said in a low voice. Everyone could see Scott's grip loosen. "Now, be a good boy and take out that white-haired bitch who brought rain on my perfect hair."

"Scott," Ms. Munroe began as he brought a hand up to his visor. Suddenly, a strong red beam hit her and knocked her into a large tree trunk. She slid down the trunk, unconscious.

"Now, the other's," Pheromones instructed.

Arwen clutched tighter to Sam and pressed her ear against his chest. Sam was too concerned with his team leader to think too much on it. Arwen could clearly hear his heart beat, and that's all she needed. A steady beat.

Scott turned to the four remaining members of his team, aside from Evan still in his own trance. As he brought his hand up, Arwen threw a strong wave of energy at Scott, Nuclear, and Pheromones. She kept doing that in sync with Sam's heartbeat until Scott and Nuclear both fell to the ground.

"Stop her," Pheromones yelled at Evan. Evan threw two spikes at Arwen and Sam, but Jubilee destroyed them in midair.

"Let's get out of here," she yelled. Sam, Arwen, and Jamie all agreed and began to run away.

"Stop them," Pheromones yelled.

Toad grabbed Jamie (there was only one at the time) with his tongue around the wrist.

"Leave me," Jamie yelled to the others. Sam got what he was saying and pulled both Jubilee and Arwen tight to his body and blasted through the air. He landed down by where the cars were all parked.

Jay grew worried when a small thunderstorm that Ms. Munroe had probably created suddenly stopped. He grew more worried when he saw his brother blasting through the air at top speed. He had already seen two gruff looking figures carrying Roberto and Rahne. He figured that maybe his brother had the right idea and turned to follow. He landed as they opened the door to the X-Van.

"What's going on, Sam?" Jay asked.

Sam looked up at his brother, but only for a moment. He was searching for the keys. "Hell if I know, Jay. I'm just hoping to get this van working."

"It's a dead end," Rose whined when they reached the wall.

"I'll be right back," Kitty said and phased through the wall several feet, until she found herself in another underground area, only this time, she could see. "Great, a sewer. Better than nothing."

"I found a sewer," Kitty said coming back into the cave. She grabbed Rose and Ray's wrists and pulled them through. "This is, like, so gross."

"At least this means that civilization can't be too far," Ray commented. "There's a lid up there."

They approached the ladder and Ray climbed to the top. He glanced around and saw a few pairs of feet and the bottom of the X-Van. "Whoever's up there, help me with this lid!"

Sam stopped his search when he heard Ray's voice. He looked outside the van and saw a sewer lid. A few moments later, he lifted the lid and Ray climbed out, followed by Kitty and Rose.

"Can you hotwire a car?" Sam asked Ray.

"Kinda," Ray said. "Everyone, pile in." Ray shocked the car though the keyhole and it started up. "I love my powers."

"I'd love for you to get us out of here," Jubilee said as she buckled her seat belt.

They followed the road they had used coming up that morning.

"What happened to you guys?" Sam asked. "How'd you end up in the sewers?"

"Magneto attacked," Kitty said. "Well, he threw Mr. Logan against a tree, and we all ran. When they began to catch up, I phased Ray, Rose, and me into the ground and an underground cave, then the sewer."

"What about you?" Rose asked.

"Brotherhood again," Sam said. "Only this time, this girl somehow convinced Evan and Scott to fight against us."

"When Ms. Munroe went to check on Jubilee's fireworks," Jay began as everyone except Ray turned to him, "this girl named Scarlet Witch appeared and brought this huge metal box out of the ground under us. I flew out before she could close it. Kurt never teleported out as far as I know."

"We have to hurry back to the professor," Kitty urged. "This was a planned attack. At least three of our groups were attacked. Who knows about Dr. McCoy's group?"

"I think we're about to find out," Ray said as he stopped the car. Bobby had just come out of the woods and waved the car down.

"Go!" Bobby yelled as soon as he crawled inside before he even closed the door. "Get going!"

Ray hit the gas again and everyone was flung backwards against his or her seat.

"What happened to you?" Jubilee asked.

"Attack by the Mutant super squad," Bobby said. "I didn't stick around for any proper introductions when they got Dr. McCoy and Hector into a large metal box."

"That's at least the third," Rose said. "These are definitely planned attacks."

"What about the other half of your team, Bobby," Kitty asked.

"We broke up into two groups," Bobby said. "Really small trails, plus, we had Jean, so she was leading the girls."

"We're being followed," Jay said pointing out the back window.

"Not for long," Arwen said. "Blast some music."

Sam turned up the volume and immediately Arwen's powers began acting up. She blasted each of the characters following them down with energy until they lost them.

"Those were some of the guys who attacked me," Bobby said.

"Apparently, they're a bit more effective at their mission," Ray said. "Except for Scarlet Witch, which is understandable."

Approximately an hour later, they arrived at the Institute, except they could tell it had been raided already. The front gates were mangled. "Who could have done this?" Kitty asked seeing they way the place was destroyed.

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	9. Planning and Unraveling

Planning and Unraveling

"You don't know where he is?" Kitty asked over the phone. She sighed. "Lance is missing too. Oh, I can't believe that the Professor didn't sense this, and now we don't know where he is."

"Let's get going," Bobby finally said. "Sticking around here for too long can only lead to us getting captured."

"Where to?" Rose asked.

"Well, it has to be somewhat hidden," Ray said. "And cheap."

"And not mind eight mutants moving in and plugging in a large computer system connected to Cerebro via a very good wireless router," Arwen said.

"I have an idea," Jay said and looked at Sam.

"Who's gotten the best grades in flying?" Kitty asked as they all piled into the X-Jet.

Jubilee, Bobby, and Sam all turned to Ray. "I do okay," he said.

"Three perfect flight simulations," Jubilee said. "And that was before I left the first time."

"I've only really flown once," Ray said. "And Ms. Munroe was in the other seat that time."

"Well, I guess you're flying then," Kitty said. "Because I'm, like, not letting any of those six fly –"

"What's wrong with me?" Bobby asked.

"Um, last time I was in a plane you flew, I had to phase the whole thing through a cliff!" Kitty snapped. "And Sam and Jubilee definitely didn't help in that situation. And, no offense to you three, but you haven't ever piloted the X-Jet in any practice even."

"Do we have everything we need?" Sam asked as they prepared to fly the jet. Everyone nodded and took a seat.

"Sit down and I hope this isn't too bumpy," Ray said. "I've already contacted ATC, and they know and approve our flight, though they think we're originating from Canada."

"Starting now, no one is to use their powers unless it is an emergency," Kitty said as the plane lifted. "That makes it easier to detect us, and we need to find them first."

Scott moaned and rolled over. He opened his eyes and realized he was definitely not in his room. He was in a queen-sized bed with red velvet sheets in a large room. Something was definitely wrong with the situation. The last thing he could remember was grabbing Pheromones wrist, then his mind went blank. Scott rolled out of bed and walked to a door opposite a window covered in blinds. He opened the door and looked into the hall. Down the hall some ways, he heard some voices, all angry. He decided to check it out.

"Ah know ya know more than ya're tellin' us, Avalanche," Rogue shouted. "What is this place?"

"I already told you that, no, I do not know!" Lance shouted back. "I got ambushed a few days ago, and I've been here ever since."

"Zen how do ve get out of zis building?" Kurt demanded.

"Easy, you walk out the front door," Lance yelled.

"But a lot of good that'll do you," Danielle Moonstar said approaching the group. "We're on an island with no land visible in any direction. I can't even contact anyone not on the island."

"Scott!" Kurt perked up seeing Scott enter the scene. "You're avake!"

"Okay, Alvers," Scott said, pushing Lance against a wall. "What do you know that you're not telling us?"

"Nothing, Summers," Lance snapped. "Now, get your damn paws off me."

"He's telling the truth, Scott," Dani said. "He's a prisoner here just as much as you or me or Piotr."

"All I know is what anyone else here knows," Lance said pushing Scott away from him. "Magneto's bringing every mutant here."

Scott looked at Rogue and Kurt. "Did anyone escape Magneto?"

"Well, yeah," Rogue began. "Betcha won't like who the few were."

"I can imagine Logan…"

"Say my name, Shades?" Logan asked a beer in one hand and a cigar in the other.

"Wait, if you are… then who…"

"Kitty, Sam, Bobby, Ray, Arwen, Rose, Jubilee, and Jay," Jean followed behind Logan. "As far as we can tell, Magneto's yet to find them."

"Hello?" Sam called out opening the door to his house. The front lawn was littered with toys, and the house looked small compared to what Kitty thought it would be when she heard about his family.

"Sam!" a young voice called and suddenly a small brunette girl with pigtails and a teddy bear had latched herself to the lower half of Sam's body.

Sam smiled and patted the girl's head. "Everyone, this is Melody."

"Jay!" Melody yelled and grabbed the pant-leg of her other brother, pulling him closer. She looked at the group, and then up at Sam. "Why are you two home? Where's Paige? Are they all mutants like you? She's pretty, is she your girlfriend?"

"Well, you're just full of questions today," Sam said pulling her up into his arms. "Where's Mom?"

"Kitchen," Melody replied. Sam nodded and motioned for everyone to follow him inside.

"Ah! What are you doing here?" another brunette girl asked when he walked into the kitchen, despite the smile on her face. "And, why did you bring your whole class?"

"Sam," Sam's mother gasped. "Joshua, what's going on?"

"Well, you'll find this funny, I suspect," Sam began, "but, ya see…"

"We were attacked and need a place to stay for a while," Jay said without delay.

Their mother's face grew dark. "Attacked? Sam… what did you say when I asked if your siblings would be safe?"

"I said they'd be fine," Sam said looking at the ground.

"And, are they?"

"Well, Jay is…" Sam said slowly.

It seemed that their mother suddenly realized her eldest daughter was missing. "Where's Paige?"

"You're guess is as good as mine, Mrs. Guthrie," Bobby said walking into the room. "Hi, I'm Bobby. Now, whatever bad things you might have heard about me, ignore them."

"Bobby…" Sam began.

"Now, you see, I have taught Sam all about city life and how to fit in at Bayville," Bobby just continued.

"Bobby!" Sam yelled.

"What is it, Cannonball?" Bobby asked. "Oh, those look good. Can I have one?"

"Can we stay for a night or two?" Jay finally got to the point.

"What happened to the mansion Xavier owns?"

"Well, it's already been raided once," Sam said. "We didn't want to wait around for them to raid it again and collect us."

Kitty frowned at the progress of the two Guthrie boys on their own mother. "I'm very sorry if we are inconveniencing you in any way, Ma'am," she began stepping into the kitchen. "I promise, if you allow us to stay, we'll do our fair share of housework and abide by all your rules, but Magneto has captured all our instructors and the rest of our team, as far as we can tell. We just need a day or two to locate our professor, and then we'll be off to rescue him."

Mrs. Guthrie sighed. "Please, make yourselves at home."

"Thanks, Mom," Sam smiled and quickly kissed her cheek. He finally put down Melody and led the rest of the mutants on the grand house tour, which wasn't all that grand. It was a six-bedroom house, and each bedroom, aside from the mother's, held two beds. Sam and Jay's room was the first one they came to. Sam instructed everyone to put his or her belongings in there. He showed everyone the bedrooms of his siblings and pointed out his mother's room. Then he showed everyone the two bathrooms, the living room, and finally, the dining room.

"You guys want to set up the computer while I get blankets and pillows for everyone?" Sam asked.

"Sounds good," Kitty said pulling a chair up to the desk and opening the laptop she had grabbed from the professor's office.

"Hey, where'd your brother go?" Ray asked.

"Which one?"

Bobby gave him an annoyed stare. "The one we know."

"Oh, uh…, Joelle, what happened to Josh?"

"Probably went to see Julia," the brunette said walking by with a curious look on her face as Sam went to the hall closet. She entered the room where the rest of the mutants were gathered around Kitty. "So, do you girls, like, have a thing for Sam?"

"Arwen does," Bobby said sitting on what he assumed had to be Jay's bed. Arwen turned and wrinkled her nose at Bobby before returning her attention to Kitty. "What kind of dirt do you have on your brother?"

"Don't feel obligated to tell him anything," Ray said turning to the younger girl for a moment.

"Well, there's not much to say," Joelle said. "I mean, he never had any girlfriends or, well, anything happen to him before he started working in the mines."

"Hey, Joelle," Sam snapped walking into the room with a pile of blankets. "Zip it."

"But…" Sam gave her a stare and she quieted and walked away.

"Mines?" Jubilee asked. "Not to seem nosy, but, what's that about?"

Sam sighed. "My dad died a few years ago and when he did, I dropped out of school to help raise money by working in the mines around here. It's nothing big or anything. Did it over summer, too."

The sun was slowly setting. Charles Xavier sighed. He didn't know how he had allowed it to happen. Legion had blocked him for months as Emma Frost helped Magneto build an army. Now, only eight of his students remained free of Mutant Island, two of whom had only received just under a week of training. He tried to reach out to Kitty, but Legion wasn't far, blocking him from contacting anyone not on the island.

"Charles, it's been hours since you last ate," Dr. McCoy said in a timid voice as he walked onto the balcony the Professor had been on for hours. "We're all worried, but you have to eat. You're not going to help them if you lose your health."

"I do suppose you're right, Hank," the Professor nodded as he turned himself around. "I just worry so much for them, and what Magneto has planned. I can sense that he wants Arwen, but I haven't a clue why she is so important to him, but her mutant signature is far different from any other. It's almost as if she puts out two different ones."

The professor and Dr. McCoy walked through the hall to the large dining area. Many of the mutants in the room, he knew. Some, however, he had never detected on Cerebro even before they had been captured. And, whatever Magneto had planned, he felt that Emma Frost's Hellions and his Acolytes were all that were needed to complete the task, as now the Brotherhood boys were prisoners like the rest.

"I cannot believe our own father would do this to us!" Pietro yelled to Wanda while piling a large amount of chicken onto his platter. "He thinks that he is any better a mutant than us?"

"At least I caught most of those I was supposed to," Wanda snapped. "You failed to capture one girl, three times now."

"I don't like this, Professor," Scott said approaching the man with a prepared plate of food for him. "This reminds me of Asteroid M a little too much."

"Except that it's on a tropical island and Magneto's not trying to get us to do anything but have fun," Logan said. "It's a little fishy."

"I still don't see why we have to sleep in the living room," Bobby complained once the young groups of escaped mutants had decided to rest for the night. Kitty had finished setting up the computer and they had made one extraordinary discovery. The mutant that had kidnapped the professor was practically pure muscles and called himself Bulk.

"Because, we're letting the girls have the beds," Sam said laying his blankets on the floor. "At least you've got the couch."

"I'd rather have a bed," Bobby said.

"Wouldn't we all?" asked Ray. "But, we don't, so stop complaining."

Kitty stared up at the ceiling. She wondered where Lance was and whether or not he was alright. Her thoughts then drifted to the rest of the X-Men. And Rebecca. All her friends were in danger, and she had barely escaped. Kitty knew that she had to lead the small team of mutants on the rescue mission, but she didn't think she could. After all, she had never led a team in her life, not to mention a full-scale rescue mission with no guidance.

"Now, Eros," Magneto said to the young boy. "You know what you must do."

Duke nodded as Magneto took a few steps backward. All around the building, mutants interacted. He was looking for the most natural ones between males and females. Magneto wanted an army under his lead, but he could wait twenty years or so for a whole new generation of mutants to follow him.

Most of the interactions Duke saw didn't seem right. Some he knew he just couldn't interfere with. However, as he strolled along the beach, he saw a boy and girl staring out at the sliver of sun left. He immediately reached out and detected their feelings. It was love. With a slight alteration, he knew he could easily change it to something different, something that would help Magneto's plan. Duke left the love in both the boy in the red shades and the red-headed girl. On top of that, he added lust.

Moments later, the boy slung an arm around the girl's shoulders. She accepted the embrace and leaned into the boy. Duke smiled. He had started to fulfill Magneto's request, but he would only add a few more to the list until he knew his sister and Arwen were both safe.

"Is that seriously a rooster I hear?" Bobby asked the next morning when the noise of a bird shook him from his sleep. He didn't get a reply, so he opened his eyes and looked around to see both Sam and Ray must have woken much earlier as both their blankets were neatly folded and placed in the corner.

"No, that's a crow," the voice of one of Sam's brothers said coming into the room. "Sam and the rest of your friends have been up for hours now."

"What time is it?" Bobby asked the little boy.

"Nine o'clock," he replied. "If you want anything to eat, Joelle's cooking in the kitchen right now."

Bobby smiled. "Thanks, kid." As the boy walked out, Bobby quickly folded his blanket and threw it and his pillow on the pile in the corner, then quickly dropped in on his friends.

"Bout time you woke up," Sam said turning as Kitty continued to type on the computer. "Go get something to eat. Joelle said she'd cook you something."

When Bobby returned to the room after eating breakfast, the other six mutants (Jay was out again) all looked deep in thought. "What's up, guys?"

"We found where all the mutants are," Ray said. "The middle of the Pacific Ocean, miles away from any other land."

"Well, why don't we just fly the X-Jet over there, pick them all up…" Bobby began, but was cut off by Kitty.

"If you haven't noticed, the jet isn't quite that large. Different plan."

"I've been saying we obtain a cruise boat, an go straight to the island," Jubilee said. "It would take a few extra days, but we'd be able to get everyone off."

"How do we obtain a cruise liner?" Rose asked.

"We need to be prepared for Magneto's men to attack at any second," Kitty said. "And, find out what those metal boxes Magneto had were made of, though, I have a slight suspicion."

"And what's that?" Ray asked.

"You know how he is always wearing that helmet?" Everyone nodded. "Well, I think he used the same material. I mean, it's an alloy that Magneto invented himself, so he probably made it super-strong, unable to teleport out of a sealed container of it, and unable to phase through."

"So, how do you propose we destroy it?" Sam asked.

"Chemistry," Arwen replied looking at Kitty. "We somehow set fire to the boxes which will change their molecular compounds by adding oxygen."

"Okay, and how do you propose we do _that_," Bobby asked.

"That's simple, Sunspot has enough heat to do that," Kitty said. "But that only stops his containment boxes. As for getting everyone off the island, it's going to be a large team effort. We get Amara to cause volcanic eruptions to create new islands. Bobby cools them off enough to have people be able to step on them, and then using boats, Kurt's teleportation powers, Jean's telekinesis, whatever we can use. So, we need a map, a compass, and a GPS."

The seven mutants set to work. Kitty, Arwen, Rose and Jubilee printed several different kinds of maps from the computer. Ray and Bobby worked on disconnecting the GPS from the X-Jet. And Sam worked on searching his whole house until he finally found a good, working compass.

"How do we get to the island now that we have everything?" Bobby asked as they finished packing everything so that they had everything they needed in one backpack.

"Easy," Jubilee said. "We let them bring us. We attract them to us and they'll come, capture us and bring us right to the island where we find the professor and he helps spread the message."

"So, let's have one last meal and set off," Sam said.

"What about Jay?" Jubilee asked.

"Can we leave him out of this?" Sam asked. "He's only thirteen."

"I don't think so, Sam," Jay said coming into the kitchen. "I'm in on this too. So, what's the plan, exactly?"

"Strange how all this isn't effecting the students too much," Logan said to Ororo the next morning. "They're all acting like teenagers."

"That's what worries me most," Ororo replied. "After all, teenagers can be quite promiscuous, and I doubt that they'll hold off all their urges for too long. And who knows how long Magneto plans to keep us here."

"However long he has planned, we'll escape sooner or later," Logan said.

"I sure hope you're correct," Ororo said. "Why, just this morning, I spotted Quicksilver trying to sweet talk Amara, and Amara was flirting back. It made me very uneasy, even after I pulled Amara from the situation to talk with me."

"I know what you mean," Logan said. "Have you seen Jean and Scott this morning? Something happened between them last night… something big." There was silence between the two for a few moments before Logan spoke again. "And have you seen the easily accessible liquor supply Magneto has in the cellar? Not even I could go through all that, even if I lived here the rest of my life."

"So, Magneto takes us to a tropical paradise, gives us all our own room and thick walls, supplies us with more than enough liquor to get us drunk often, and hangs around so we know he's not attacking non-mutants or working for mutant superiority," Ororo laid all they knew out in front of them. "What is his plan?"

"Let's not forget how he's protecting that Duke kid whenever he gets threatened," Logan replied. "And _he_ always seems to be going around with that Tip girl."

"Pheromones," Ororo said. "Her battle name is Pheromones. She must have the ability to manipulate Pheromones, which could explain how she controlled Scott and Evan. And Duke has been called Eros, the Greek god of love."

"So, you think he's trying to get us all to fall in love, increase our pheromones, and reproduce?"

"In less than twenty years, if he raises all those children, he's have a large mutant army grown and trained to hate all other humans," Ororo said. "That might be his plan."

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**Please review.** PLEASE!!!!! 


	10. On the Island

On the Island

As they had assumed, not more than twenty minutes after Bobby briefly used his powers, several mutants appeared looking not so friendly. One of them, a woman with blonde hair and wearing white clothes took a few steps toward them.

"Don't struggle with us and we'll all be much happier," she said taking a few steps toward them. "Magneto will be here momentarily, and he will expect seven of you to go directly into his containment cell and one of you, Arwen, to go as his direct prisoner."

"If you really think we're going without a battle then I suggest you get your head examined," Jubilee snapped.

The blonde woman sighed. "Attack, my Hellions!"

Several of the mutants attacked all at once. A mutant called Jetstream with a power very much like Sam's blasted into Sam's chest, effectively knocking him down. Meanwhile, a mutant named Catseye turned into a cat the size of a jaguar and pounced at Rose and Kitty. Kitty phased through the attack while Rose used vines to fend off the giant cat. The mutant Tarot created the grim reaper and the black knight again, which began to fight Bobby and Ray. Jay jumped into the air, but was quickly hit by a black disk, and suddenly found the wind against him blowing him straight into the ground where he landed at the feet of a fairly good-looking, though a bit too old for him girl. Jubilee was attacked by a huge man that looked to be Native American. She began throwing fireworks at him, but he just blocked the blasts with his arms and kept charging at her. When Kitty turned around after escaping Catseye, she came face to face with another mutant. She suddenly felt completely overwhelmed and fell to her knees, just holding back tears. Her teammates were all confused and took a moment to look at the girl that was supposed to be leading them. In that moment, another mutant shocked Bobby enough to cause him to black out, Jubilee was knocked unconscious by the muscled mutant she fought, Catseye broke free of Rose's vines and pinned the girl, Sam was tricked into cannonballing into a large tree trunk, Ray was knocked out by the Black Knight and Jay tripped on his own shoelaces, leaving Arwen to fight and defend all the nine mutants mostly by herself. It was that moment that Magneto decided to appear. He came with one large box, and one pair of handcuffs.

"Be easy on yourself and do exactly as I tell you," Magneto said floating down in front of Arwen.

"Not happening," Arwen said pressing the play button of her iPod and jumping back as Magneto tried to grab her wrist. She had barely heard the first note when the earplugs were pulled out of the mp3 player through Magneto's powers. Unfortunately, one note was not enough for her to get her power started. Emma Frost and her Hellions grabbed the other seven X-Men while Magneto magnetically secured the handcuffs around Arwen's wrists.

"Nothing personal, my dear," Magneto said. "But you have a little more power than you know."

"You've hardly done any work," Tip said to Duke as the two watched Jean and Scott across the room. "Magneto is going to be mad at you."

"Let him be," Duke said. "I just want to know that my sister and Arwen aren't hurt."

"Why do you care about your sister?" Tip asked. "And, this Arwen girl, is she like a girlfriend or something?"

Duke's cheeks began to burn slightly. "Maybe you might not know the meaning of family, but just because Rose and I are on opposing teams doesn't mean I want to see her hurt. And Arwen is like a sister to me. One of the few girls who doesn't treat me like I'm the cute little boy next door just cause I'm a little younger."

"I think you have a crush on her," Tip said. "How about this. When Magneto brings her here, you make her fall madly in love with you, I'll throw in a few pheromones for you, and the two of you disappear for a few hours on one of the beaches until it looks like someone took an electric sander to her ass. Then, you turn every guy-girl couple you see into lovers and we all have a giant orgy!"

"Orgy?" Pietro's voice cut through the air. "Where?"

"Anywhere you're not," Duke said. "I know just the sight of you makes me feel more like a male compared to you, and I know every girl can't help but wonder why any one would grease their hair like yours and expect to get any action."

Pietro narrowed his eyes. "Tip thinks I'm sexy, right?" He looked at the girl to see she was staring out the window.

"Your dad's back," she said. "And look, he's got that girl he's been fretting about all this time. I don't get what's so dangerous about her against his plans?"

"I think I know," Pietro said glancing at Duke, who was staring at the brunette outside. He then threw open the window and climbed outside, not even bothering to travel the twenty feet to the door.

"Where's my sister?" Duke yelled to Magneto as the large box he had been sitting on set down.

"Be patient, Eros," Magneto said. The front panel of the box opened and the seven mutants inside all fell out. "I assured you she would be fine."

Rose looked up and saw her brother conversing with Magneto. Sibling rivalry never grew so strong in her as it did that moment. "You two-faced traitor. You pulled a Benedict Arnold on Arwen and me. What the- How the- Mom and Dad are going to slit your throat when I drag you home by the ear, young man." She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him a few inches off the ground so his face was a few centimeters from hers, as she was several inches taller than him. "I swear, I am going to rip your guts out and sauté them ASAP!"

"Put me down, Rose," Duke snapped struggling to free himself from his sister's grip. "I ensured that you wouldn't get hurt. I told Magneto my one condition was that neither your nor Arwen were to get hurt."

Arwen still on top of the box with Magneto looked at the boy with sad eyes. "Well, Duke, too bad. _You_ hurt me. And I think you hurt your sister as well."

Duke's face dropped as a single tear dripped from her eye. "Arwen, I…"

"You what?" Rose yelled, throwing her brother on the ground. "You're sorry? You didn't know this is what was going to happen? You thought this would be better?"

"Don't bother with him, Rose," Ray said coming next to her and placing a hand on her shoulder. "He obviously works for Magneto, which puts him against us."

Duke furrowed his brow. "Get your hand off my sister, Bud!"

"What are you going to do about it?" Bobby asked coming up behind Duke.

"Anything he wants," Magneto said. "Have fun with their minds, Eros. I am taking the little Muse to her special room."

"What?" Rose yelled as Magneto began to float away, dragging Arwen with him.

"Get back here," Sam yelled, ready to cannonball to Arwen's rescue, but suddenly felt an overwhelming love for the palm tree not more than five feet away from him. Duke then turned his glowing eyes on Bobby and Ray, who turned their sights away from hurting Duke to flirting with each other.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Jubilee asked when she recognized Bobby's show-off attitude.

"Is that you, Duke?" Rose asked.

"I'd say it's a good bet," Kitty said. "Magneto was calling him Eros, after all. That's the Greek name for what the Romans called Cupid."

"Stop it, Duke!" Rose yelled.

"And what do _you_ intend to do to stop him, exactly?" Tip asked making her way toward the group. "Grow a plant?"

"Anyone else, and I'd restrain myself," Rose said. "But, I can do whatever the hell I want to Duke. After all, he is my baby brother." She then turned and slapped Duke across the face. He was so shocked, that all his effects immediately wore off the three boys.

"Baby brother?" Duke yelled. "You're only a year older than me!"

"And I'll always be a year older than you, Duke, or should I say…"

"Don't you DARE!" Duke yelled.

"Jamison Elroy Trelin," Rose yelled above her brother's voice.

There were snickers coming from every direction. "How'd you get 'Duke' out of that?" someone Rose didn't recognize asked.

"He thought is sounded cool," Rose said in a taunt.

"You called me it before anyone else," Duke yelled back. "Rosalina Martha Trelin."

"That's just not as powerful, Jamison," Rose retorted.

"Hey, Rose," Ray yelled as he was about to enter the building. "Come on."

Rose glared at her brother briefly before following the rest of the group inside.

"Jamison?" Tip asked. "Wow, that's just low."

Duke furrowed his brow again. "Why don't you just go make-out with Todd." His eyes glowed briefly, and suddenly Tip disappeared into the building calling for the toad boy. Duke hated his real name, and only allowed his mother to call him it without retaliating in some form. Duke knew exactly how to get back as his sister.

"Ready?" Kitty asked slowly letting go of Lance's arm. They, along with Dr. McCoy and Logan were on a beach. Lance nodded.

"Straight along that line," Dr. McCoy said drawing a line in the beach. "And remember, don't bring the dirt too high or too close to the beach or Magneto will see our plan."

"I sure hope that compass is accurate," Lance said before he began concentrating his power to bring a sand bar together pointing towards the nearest island. The ground began to shake slightly, but that was expected. After a minute, Logan stopped him, so no one would become too suspicious.

"This is so not cool," Rebecca whined as she sat in a room with Rose, Rogue, Ms. Munroe, Tabitha, and Amara while they waited for the return of Kitty. After Ms. Munroe and Logan finally realized what Magneto's plan was, the Professor felt that everyone was safer in numbers and that, for the most part, males and females should be separated. He had gone through the minds of everyone he thought might have been affected by Duke, and restored them to their own state of mind. Turned out Jean and Scott had made some changes in their relationship that no one ever thought would come about.

"Well, unless you want Duke to make you fall in love with a palm tree…" Tabitha said with a little smirk. "Is his name really Jamison Elroy?"

"I'd tell you to ask Arwen, but seeing as she isn't here at the moment…"

"So ask her when we see her next," Kitty said walking into the room.

"Well?" Ms. Munroe asked.

"We completed what we wanted to," Kitty said. "Amara, tonight you, Ms. Munroe, and Jean are going to the end of it. You can handle that, right?"

Amara nodded. "I just need to calm down a bit and eat something."

"Kitchen's open," Kitty said. "Want me to go with you?"

Amara shook her head no. "I can handle a five minute trip on my own."

"It would seem that they have uncovered your plan, Magnus," Emma Frost said in a quiet voice. "My Hellions will be on the island tomorrow, and they expect a love fest, not a seventh grade gender rivalry."

Magneto nodded. "I guess my plan to place the Professor amongst them was not as smart as I thought. It seems that you and Legion will have to subdue his powers, Miss Frost."

"Me?" Emma asked. "On that island? You _must_ be kidding."

"Not at all," Magneto smiled as several metal strips wrapped around Emma's body. "Now, keep the Professor's mind under control or the next metal you come into contact with will be squeezing off your neck."

"Hey, sweets," the voice of fourteen-year-old Nicholas Arnold met Amara when she entered the kitchen. "You wanna bring some of your sugar over to Papa?"

Amara rolled her eyes. "I'm way out of your league, Nuke," she said as she opened the cabinet and found a package of Oreos.

"You may think that," Nick said, jumping from his seat and standing in front of her, blocking her exit of choice, "but you'll soon find out that no one is out of my league."

"If you're talking about your friend Duke, you have no idea what is going on, do you? Magneto is keeping us all on this island until he can build himself a whole army of mutants. It'll probably be about twenty years before you get off this place. You're as much a prisoner here as I am."

"Silly little Brazilian," Nick said, taking a step closer and placing a hand on her hip. He immediately was answered with a quick slap to the face. He clenched his teeth for a moment before lashing out. "Fucking Bitch. I'm going to zap you so hard that you're going to be radioactive in the grave. And you'll be there before you can even eat one of those little cookies."

"Get away from her or you'll be answering to me," the voice of Wanda announced her presence in the doorway behind Amara.

"I'm just listening to your father's orders," Nick said.

"Well, he isn't here," Wanda replied. "But I am, so back away from the girl."

Nick frowned, but reluctantly stomped his way outside. Amara turned to Wanda. "Thanks."

"I'm on your side while we're stuck here," Wanda said. "I want off this place as badly as you do." She paused a moment, "and I know why my father took Arwen away."

Amara's eyes grew wide. She was still conflicted about Arwen. After all, with Arwen gone, if the plan Kitty had told the Professor didn't work, she'd have Sam, no doubt about it. She wanted the plan to work, but she supposed that Magneto wouldn't let them win so easily. "Why?"

"She's not all mutant," Wanda said. "Her powers are from another source, much more powerful than any mutant, even your professor."

"Meaning?"

The Professor knew that Emma Frost and his son Lucas were on the island for one reason, and that was to keep his mind under control. However, at the same time, he knew he had to keep their minds hidden from the plan to save them all. As Magneto arrived with new mutants every day, it was becoming more and more urgent to stop him before he could get brainwash any of the mutants. The afternoon after Magneto had arrived with Kitty, several of the Brotherhood members disappeared for several hours. When they returned, Fred and Todd immediately went out and began trying to find a girl that would give them the time of day. When it became clear that none would, the Professor had trouble locating Roberto, Hector, and Evan for several hours. When they returned, they each began excessively flirting with girls. The Professor tried to reach into their minds, but found that he recognized the barriers that had been put up. It was the work of Mastermind.

"Dis place really ain't so bad, eh?" Hector smiled warmly at Paige on the beach.

"Was Puerto Rico anything like this?" Paige asked turning to face him. After all that had happened, no one should have been surprised when the closets were stocked with countless bathing suits in every shape, color, design, and size.

"A little," Hector said staring at the girl. She had her eyes closed and hidden behind sunglasses. "I mean, it was a lot bigger and I was de only mutant I ever encountered." Paige smiled a little and laughed. "But dis place is in de Pacific, so it ain't as windy and I'm not so worried about any hurricanes."

Paige finally lifted her sunglasses and looked at the boy. He had left his image inducer off because he didn't have to worry about fitting in for normal humans. Paige couldn't help but laugh that he was going around in a pair of swim trunks and sandals. He looked nothing like a normal human. "Is it possible for you to get sunburned?" she asked.

Hector lifted an eyebrow. "I really don't know," he said. "But it looks like you are." He moved a little closer. "Want me to rub some suntan lotion on you?"

"Don't need it," Paige said. "I'm not worried about burns. I can shed them off. I did it twice this summer already. I just like the feel of the warmth of the sun."

Hector nodded. "Yeah, but, dere's an even better warmth you can feel."

"And that is?" Paige asked with an interested smile.

Hector smirked and leaned close to her. "De warmth of –"

"Step away from the sister," Jay's voice called through the air. As Sam was part of the organizing committee for the Get-Off-The-Island-Alive-And-Soon plan, Jay had decided he'd be the one to protect their sister from Magneto's plan.

"Oh my God," Paige tried to bury herself behind her hands. "My brothers are so annoying. I'm so sorry about him, Hector."

"No, it's fine," Hector assured her. "He's just worried because of dat Duke kid, I'm sure."

Jay was quickly approaching the two on the secluded beach, until Tip stopped him in his tracks. "Where's the fire, cutie?" Tip asked leaning close to him.

Jay frowned. He knew that the girl's powers were, and due to his young age her tricks didn't work as well as they did on other boys. "Get out of my way."

"Or what?" Tip asked her face in his and she was pushing out pheromones as quickly as she possibly could.

"I'll." He tried to keep his mind focused on his sister but it was quickly slipping. "I'll, do something."

"Or," Tip whispered blowing the pheromones in Jay's face, "you'll turn around and go fix me a nice banana-strawberry smoothie."

"Sounds good," Jay said with a nod and turned away.

"I'll be on the other side of the island," she whispered into his ear as he turned and walked away.

Kitty kept her mind focused on the game of chess she was playing with Dr. McCoy. The last thing she wanted to do was to think about the plan. Emma Frost sat across the library reading a book. Several other girls sat around the library, reading books or magazines, or working on puzzles. Aside from Dr. McCoy, the Professor was the only other male in the room.

"Wouldn't you girls like to go outside and enjoy the bright sunlight?" Emma asked.

"I'm too at risk to get skin cancer," Rebecca replied.

"It's way too distracting," Rahne said, "with all the boys yelling and making fools of themselves."

"Plus, you can't take a puzzle outside," Rose said.

"We'll go out when we feel like it, Ma'am," Kitty said.

Dr. McCoy moved a piece and smiled widely. "I do believe that's checkmate, Kitty."

Kitty sighed. "Could you tell me the strategy you used, Dr. McCoy? I can't seem to ever beat anyone when I play this game, not even Bobby."

The doctor smiled. "Certainly, Kitty. See, I just kept my mind on the game the whole time. Even when it was your turn, I tried to evaluate my position and the position I would be in with any move you would make. You see, I knew that when you moved your knight, you king would be in an easy position to be checked, but that if I took out your knight, I'd find myself only a move or two away from a checkmate."

Kitty looked at Emma again. Magneto had placed her, Legion, and Mastermind on the island. No doubt her Hellions and his Acolytes were soon to follow. She hadn't planned on that, but that's why she was glad that Wanda was against her own father. Kitty was glad that the plan hadn't been shared with everyone. Wanda was currently locating all her father's precious metal, and as soon as that was done, Roberto and Amara would be let in on a second part of the plan. However, Miss Frost was very clever. Kitty wondered if she'd search all the correct minds.

Kitty smiled. "I have a great idea, girls. Let's paint our nails. I spotted Wanda with a bottle of black nail polish the other day, so there's got to be a whole storage here, right?" The other girls all yelled out their agreements and Emma rolled her eyes.

"I so call first dibs on all OPI bottles," Rebecca yelled.

"Does anyone know how to do tips?" Rose questioned.


	11. Attempt of Escape

**Second to last chapter. Once again, I'd love it if you reviewed. Please... I'm beggin' ya! Hope you enjoy.**

* * *

Attempt of Escape

Arwen didn't know how her little prison room was balancing on the pole, but as long as she didn't plummet to the earth and die, she'd survive, quite literally. For some reason, Magneto found her more of a threat than any other mutant. She peeked down at the beach below her and saw she was the only one on the small desert island. She didn't understand why she needed to be in a tower, balancing on a pole if she was on her own desert island. Did Magneto expect her to swim somewhere? She sighed and sat down against the wall away from the window.

"Hello!" A man that she definitely didn't know appeared at her window. He seemed to be glowing, and he was flying. There were wings on his feet and wide hat and he held a scepter with ribbons in one of his hands.

"Who are you?" Arwen asked slightly hesitantly.

The man smiled and laughed lightly. "I'm your grandfather, young one."

Arwen's jaw dropped. Her grandma never mentioned her grandfather, and her father's parents had died when he was a child. This man, however, was clearly not all human. Realization slowly dawned on her. Her grandfather was a mutant. Her mother probably was as well, but hid it from her father. "But, how did you find me? I've been here for a few days, and the only one who knows I'm here is Magneto."

The man simply laughed as he pulled out a small knife and cut through the solid metal bars as if they were butter. He climbed in and Arwen noticed, yet again, something was different about him. He was very tall and held a mysterious glow about him. "Not even that man can keep you hidden from your own father."

Arwen furrowed her brow. "My father doesn't care about me any more. And how the hell can that asshole find me? He works in publishing tax law."

The man looked surprised. "You mean, your mother never told you who your real father is? That man was no more than a foster father. When your mother wanted to get pregnant, she was denied fertility. So, your father's sister said she'd make your mother fertile if she slept with your true father for one night. You were conceived that night."

Arwen stared at the man. None of what he was saying made sense. "You lost me."

The man just smiled again. "I am Hermes. The messenger of the gods. Child of Zeus. And your true father is Apollo, god of the sun, prophecy, music, flocks and wolves, medicine, and archery. And, he's not happy that you've been locked away by a mere mortal, so he sent me here to tell you that he will arrive tonight at sunset to set you free."

Arwen swayed for a moment, then fainted for the first time in her life.

It hadn't been more than a few days, but Mastermind had brainwashed the minds of more of Xavier's boys than he was comfortable with. When Scott began pursuing Jean again, he knew he had to do something to stop the happenings. As long as they were brainwashed, they couldn't help with the escape. And if they weren't helping to escape, they'd never make it off the island until Magneto had his army.

Logan, Jean, and the Professor began searching the large mansion for Mastermind. Logan was using his heightened sense of smell and Jean and the Professor sweeping the area for his mind. Finally, after several hours, they seemed to stumble upon a secret passage in the mansion's kitchen cupboard.

"Remember, Jean, keep your telepathic walls up so as to keep Mastermind from brainwashing you," the Professor said as they slowly traveled down the ramp. "And if I say leave, I want you both to leave." The Professor made a point to catch Logan's eye.

"I swear, the best liquor on the island is down this way," Pietro said to Bobby and Sam, two of the few boys Mastermind had yet to reach. "Right down this hidden ramp."

"And why exactly are you showing us this?" Sam asked. "You don't like us, remember?"

"I figure, hey, we're all stuck on this island for a long time, might as well try to get along, right?"

"Or, you two could just join Rose, Rebecca, and me for a quick jog around the island," Ray said coming into the kitchen with the girls.

"Plus, it's noon," Rose said. "A little too early to be drinking."

"It's five o'clock somewhere," Pietro quickly interjected.

Rose lowered her eyes at him. "First off, that line doesn't work anymore. Second, five is still way too early to be drinking. Finally, why are you so eager to get them drunk? Gotta little man crush or something?"

Pietro narrowed his eyes. "I was just trying to be generous, but I've learned my lesson. There's no being nice to an X-Geek." He zipped off before anyone could talk again.

"You weren't really going to go down there, were you?" Ray asked.

"Hell, I wanted some good alcohol," Bobby said. He was about to walk down the ramp, but Ray and Sam each caught an arm and pulled him back. Ray flicked his forehead.

"Don't you think that's where Magneto's hiding Mastermind?" Ray snapped.

"Oh, uh, I was just playing along so that I could take Mastermind out," Bobby laughed.

"You're an idiot," Rebecca mumbled.

"Okay, I'm ready for that run now," Rose said after downing a glass of water.

"You were being serious?" Rebecca asked.

Rose nodded. "You weren't?"

"I thought he was kidding," Rebecca said pointing at Ray.

"Nope," Ray said. "I'm really going for a run before I eat. We might be on a small island, but I'm not letting that stop my training."

"Wow," Rebecca laughed. "You are way too weird for my tastes. And what's your reason, Rose?"

"I'm a runner," Rose said. "It's my thing."

Duke was strolling the beach, looking for a couple to mess with in the head. In the distance, he saw two figures running in is direction. He jumped behind a shrub before they could spot him. As the two approached, he began to smirk. "Oh, my darling sister, it's time for a bit of payback. Time for your first kiss. Too bad you're going to hate it."

"I see you've found me, Professor," Mastermind said from the shadows in the basement. "Good."

"Mastermind, you must stop what you are doing before Magneto gets his wish," Charles Xavier said. "Don't you see, you're as much a prisoner here as the rest of us."

"That is where you are wrong, Professor," Mastermind yelled. He used his power to project images of a mutant ruled world in the Professor's head. It showed mutant freedom and humans agreeing with the mutants, rather than fighting them.

"That isn't the world Magneto envisions at all, Mastermind," the Professor yelled. "He wants mutant domination of the world. He wants to enslave the humans."

"They are inferior beings," Mastermind said.

"You are wrong, Mastermind," the Professor yelled. "They are equal to us. All are equal."

"They will never be equal," Mastermind said. "They will always hate us. Magneto wants our freedom."

"But at what price, Mastermind?" the Professor asked. "Lives will be lost."

"It will be worth it," Mastermind replied.

"You're wrong," Jean yelled. "There can be peace, but we have to work for it and we have to show the humans we mean no harm."

Kitty hadn't seen Logan or the Professor in hours, which was the only reason she was peeking into every room looking for Lance. After fifteen minutes of searching, she found him watching a movie with Piotr and a few Morlocks. After checking to make sure that Logan was nowhere in the vicinity, she entered the room quietly and approached Lance.

"Hey, Lance," Kitty whispered into his ear.

Lance smiled and turned his head so his lips could meet hers. "Pretty Kitty," he said in a low voice. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"To the fact that I'm bored and I miss you," Kitty said tugging at him to leave the group of mutants and to go away with her.

"Didn't your professor tell you not to spend time alone with me while we're on this island?" Lance asked once she had pulled him into an empty room.

"He's just afraid of what Rose's brother is doing to everyone's minds," Kitty said. "I haven't been near him, and I don't think you've been near him. And he certainly isn't here." Kitty got on her tiptoes, ready to kiss Lance, when an angry yell rang through the house.

"Xavier!" Magneto yelled furiously. "Where are you?"

The Professor, Jean, and Logan all turned to leave Mastermind, who Logan had just thrown into a wall. Whatever Magneto was furious about, it seemed that it was almost time to begin the plan Kitty had told him.

"Where is she?" Magneto yelled lifting the Professor out of his wheelchair and sending Logan flying backwards so he couldn't attack.

"Please, Magnus," the Professot said calmly. "Who are you talking about?"

"Don't you dare try those tricks on me, Xavier," Magneto yelled dropping the bald professor back in his wheelchair. "Arwen. Where is she?"

"I am certain I have no idea, Magnus," Professor Xavier replied.

"You forgot where you put her?" Jean asked. "That's rather careless of you, Magneto."

"If I recall correctly, you took her away almost immediately," Logan said picking himself up off the ground.

"She's gone missing," Magneto snarled in an almost animal-like way. "And the bars were cut smoothly through. So, unless there is another magnetic manipulator, I'd say that adamantium was used."

"I haven't left this island," Logan snapped. "Nor had X-23. So turn around. I don't even have a clue where she might be. Or why you're so obsessed with her."

Magneto yelled angrily and then began floating away in one of his metal spheres before he could be caught.

"Professor," Amara approached the man later when he was in the library. "I know why Magneto took Arwen."

The Professor looked up, very interested in the information she knew. "How do you know?"

"Wanda told me," Amara said. "Apparently Magneto believes that Arwen is, well, the daughter of one of the ancient Greek gods. I believe Apollo to be exact."

The Professor stroked his chin. "That wouldn't necessarily give her powers, Amara," he said. "But it would enhance any mutant powers."

"What if she was more than half god?" Amara asked. "I mean, what if before Apollo, another god or goddess gave birth to her mother?"

The Professor nodded. "It's quite possible. Could you please get me Hank, Ororo, Logan, and Jean?" Amara nodded and left the room.

Arwen opened her eyes to find that she was quickly moving in a vehicle that didn't have a roof. She look around too see a young man holding the reigns. She was in a chariot. Thinking about what the other man had told her, she realized that she was probably in Apollo's chariot. And, if what Hermes had told her was true, Apollo was her father. This brought a new horde of questions to Arwen's mind. The first of which was how to address him.

"Um…" she began quietly, not even sure if he could hear her.

"You're awake," the man said, his voice ringing with power. "How was your rest, my daughter?"

"It was fine," Arwen said. Actually, she didn't feel rested at all considering she had passed out. "Where are you taking me?"

"I was just going to ask where you wanted to go," Apollo answered.

Arwen thought for a moment. "I'd like to help my friends who have been captured by Magneto," she finally said.

"I thought you might," Apollo said. "I've sent Hermes to speak with your Professor and to launch an attack. Unfortunately, Zeus has forbid us to help you in the attack against Magneto. Which is why we are stopping at Mt. Olympus first."

"Why there?" Arwen asked.

"We have gifts to give you," Apollo said. "And Zeus has to consult you on your future."

After a few hours, the chariot arrived atop Mt. Olympus in the clouds. Apollo helped Arwen down and then led her to meet Zeus. To Arwen's surprise, all the gods were gathered.

"Young Arwen," Zeus smiled. "Blessed with powers. We are all pleased to see you. Seventy-five percent goddess." He paused and looked at her, stroking his beard. "You're only fifteen, but before your next birthday, you have a choice that must be made. You can choose your destiny. Goddess or human."

Arwen's eyes widened. "I have to what?"

"In December, you will turn sixteen," Zeus said. "Before then you must choose if you would like to join us on Mt. Olympus, or if you'd like to live the life of a human. I do not want you to make a hasty decision, so I'd like you to wait until everything in your life has sorted out to think. But, it would seem that you have a problem with your friends. So, we have some gifts for you. From Hephaestus, impenetrable armor that Magneto cannot control. From Eros, a quiver of love arrows. From Athena, a grant of protection. And from Hermes, winged-sandals so that you may have the speed of the gods."

"Thank you," Arwen said with a bow.

"Take care," Zeus said. "Now, be off, for the battle has already begun."

"Listen to me," Apollo said as Arwen pulled her armor on while in the chariot that was taking them to the island. "Your music is your greatest weapon. It will break the hypnosis cast upon some of your peers. Take my bow as well to shoot Eros's arrows so you will not miss and take this wooden flute so that you may have music. I will be around to help guide you, but I cannot help fight. Stay safe, my daughter."

Hours earlier, on the island…

"Are you sure this is all of it?" the Professor asked Wanda.

"All on the island," Wanda said. "I'm certain."

"Then we begin," the Professor said. Amara and Rogue, who had recently touched Roberto because he was still under Mastermind's brainwashing, both powered up and began blasting the metal with all their might. Jean was working on reversing Mastermind's brainwashing. Dr. McCoy was gathering all the students and other mutants to the underwater bridge Lance and Amara had been working on. And Logan, Kitty, Sam, and Bobby, they were fending off those on Magneto's side.

"That metal's meltin', alright," Rogue called to Amara. "Ah still think we ought to turn up the heat."

"Just a bit more," Amara said. "Where's the Professor?"

"Storm took him out of here a few minutes ago," Rogue said. Finally, the metal reached a temperature so hot it set on fire. "And about time, too."

Upon noticing that his island was in utter chaos, Magneto called all his Acolytes and the Hellions to help him fight. Mastermind finally crawled out of his hole and began commanding all those under his control to fight against those trying to escape.

"I wouldn't be making a bridge if I were you," Scott growled reaching for his sunglasses and approaching Lance. "And what have I told you about Kitty?"

"Scott…" Jean began approaching him. "What's gotten into you?"

"Attack," Magneto yelled appearing in the distance.

It began too fast to counter. Magneto's side quickly subdued the others. The well trained Hellions, the tricky Acolytes, and the blumbering Brotherhood alongside all the brainwashed X-Men males. "I want everyone in pairs," he announced. "Every male, choose your mate."

"We're not dogs, Magneto," Kitty yelled. "You can't just breed us."

"I think you'll find I can," he said. "Eros, pick a rough mate for her. And make sure it's not Avalanche."

"No!" Lance yelled, struggling in Sabretooth's grip. "Leave her alone, damn it." As he yelled, the ground began to shake.

"Do something about him," Magneto snapped.

"How about you do something about this," Wanda yelled hexing her father with her powers. Magneto fell to the ground, but he quickly stood up. Suddenly, there was a slight rumble in the background and everyone turned around to see that forks and spoons were flying in their direction. Everyone who could, fell to the ground as all the silverware, followed quickly by larger metal objects, began sticking to Magneto by a power magnetic attraction.

"Father!" Pietro yelled, letting go of Paige and Megan, who he had somehow captured. However, before even Pietro could approach Magneto, the man yelled and sent all the metal flying in every direction.

"I should have known better than to bring you here, Wanda," Magneto snarled.

Paige and Megan, however, didn't waste any time and turned to help their fellow teammates also captured. Paige shed her skin and gave herself an acid skin to burn anyone who attacked her while Megan began spreading pixie dust, which could cause illusions, thus confusing those holding people captive. Kitty phased from the grip she was in and then began helping others phase out of their grip.

Magneto, seeing Kitty was loose, tried to bring up his hidden metal boxes, only to find that they were dripping and melted and no longer the substance he had spent years perfecting. "That's a little too hot, don't you think," Rogue said with a smile. She jumped at Magneto, reaching for the little exposed skin on his face. He flew out of her reach, but that didn't seem to stop her. She had apparently already had fought with Jetstream. While she had not taken him out of the fight, she had gained his ability to fly.

Jean never thought she would end up in a face-off against Scott, but she had. Scott's powerful optic beam blasted at her, and she threw up a telekinetic shield for herself. As Scott's beam grew more powerful, Jean began to push against it, trying to close her shield around him, but not so that he would get hurt. However, before she could finish her work, someone struck her in the back of the knee and she lost all control as she fell down.

Kitty, Rebecca, and Rose found themselves surrounded by Tarot, Roulette, and Nuclear. Roulette threw three black disks, one at each of the X-Men. In retaliation, Rebecca tried to block the solid bad luck and found that she could turn her luck into solid objects as well, such as ninja stars of good or bad luck. A star of bad luck cut right through the disk heading toward Rebecca and sliced Roulette's cheek, causing her to take a step backwards and fall. Each half of the disk Roulette had thrown at Rebecca curved off the collided with the other two disks she had thrown. When Roulette tried to stand back up, she found that she had fallen into a spot of quicksand. When Tarot's creations charged at Kitty, she just phased through the attacks, then grabbed onto the creations from behind and pulled them deep into the sand. After several of these, Kitty pulled one right under Tarot, and when she tried to call back her creation, the sand beneath her collapsed and she fell into a deep pit. Rose kept trying to grow plants to attack Nuclear, but he kept killing them off with his radioactive ability. Finally, Rose growled and quickly, a cage of weeds sprung up around Nuclear, and as he killed that off, Poison Oak and Poison Ivy grew up around him and wrapped him up. By the time he escaped, he couldn't stop scratching.

Arwen saw the fireworks as she approached the island. She grabbed her new wooden flute and closed her eyes. She just needed to help free the minds of all of Mastermind's victims. How hard could that task actually be?

She tried to think of a song, any song that she could play. But, for the first time, nothing came to mind. She couldn't even think of the last song she had heard or listened to. As the battle grew closer, she began to freak out. She couldn't go charging into a battle. She didn't know how to fight, how to move swiftly in armor. She knew one thing. She needed help.

_That's it!_ She thought to herself and brought the flute back up to her lips. "Let your minds be free," she whispered and then began to play the random tune she found in her mind.


	12. Return to Normalcy

Return to Normalcy

Scott had his hand at his visor, ready to shoot a full blast at Jean, nothing running threw his mind but Magneto's orders. Jean looked up at Scott, trying to beg him with her eyes not to shoot. Scott could feel his beam become stronger, as if he was getting more solar power. However, just before he could shoot, he heard the faint sound of music. Only one instrument was playing, but he could hear the rest of it in his head. It told him something. _Be free_. "Let my mind be free," he murmured quietly, then snapped from his daze. He couldn't hurt Jean. "Oh, god, Jean," Scott yelled and kneeled beside the girl. "I didn't hurt you too much, did it?"

"Oh, Scott," Jean cried and wrapped her arms around him. "You're back."

"I'm sorry, Jean," Scott said. "The last thing I really remember is going to the kitchen for a snack."

"How did you break the hold?" Jean asked.

"I don't know," he admitted. "But I heard music. In fact, I feel like I can still hear it."

Jean closed her eyes. "I hear it too, Scott. And it's not just you." She turned and around and saw a horse pulled chariot that was glowing glide across the water. "It can't be."

The music faded and a figure jumped from the chariot and began gliding across the waters. It was quickly approaching the island. Suddenly, the music reappeared, this time heard by everyone. Magneto, who had just wrapped Rogue up in bindings of silverware, turned around. So, that's where his missing prisoner had disappeared to.

"Arwen," Rose smiled. "She's okay."

"Too bad you're not," Nuclear yelled. He blasted the girl against a wall. "That's for the itching."

"Hey!" Arwen yelled when she reached the shore. She played her flute and blasted Nuclear with energy. She then swiftly ran to Rose's side. "Rose, are you okay?"

"I can't believe you're even alive," she said weakly.

Arwen frowned. She pulled her flute to her lips and began to play a quick little melody concentrating on her friend's health. After a moment, she felt something strike her back. She turned around and saw a laughing Nuclear.

"Never turn your back on your enemy," Nuclear said. "Didn't you ever learn the art of battle? After that blast, you're probably hardly awake."

"I hardly felt a thing," Arwen replied.

"Eros, hurry and get them all to hate each other with a fiery passion," Magneto snapped. "Keep them fighting."

Duke slowly nodded and began increasing everyone's hate for other people so they kept fighting. Arwen frowned. She pulled the bow from the quiver and an arrow. "I hope they can deal with a bit of love," Arwen said quietly and began shooting arrows at those attacking their friends. She was quickly running low on arrows, however. Within three minutes, she reached back only to find that she was down to her last arrow.

"Rose, down to one arrow," Arwen said and looked at her friend. Rose only shook her head, indicating she didn't know what to do. "Apollo?"

"I suggest you take out the source," the godly voice of her father said.

Arwen nodded and looked at Duke, who had just turned his eyes towards Jean and Scott again. "Hey, Duke," Arwen yelled. Duke looked at her, his eyes stopped glowing. "Eros wants his name back, but says you're free to go by Cupid." Duke frowned slightly as Arwen aimed and pulled the string back. She released and before Duke knew what was happening, an arrow had lodged itself in his heart, but it didn't hurt. After a moment, the arrow disappeared and Duke only had his eyes on Arwen.

"Stop the hatred," Arwen said as he approached, "and make everyone love one another."

"Love," Duke nodded and suddenly, all the battling stopped. People turned to those that were usually enemies and made peace. They all began to hug one another and celebrated being together.

"Eros, what are you doing?" Magneto yelled.

"He doesn't take orders from you anymore," the Professor said from where he had stayed safe during the battle. "Arwen, I believe this is your battle."

"I believe you are correct, Professor," Arwen said. She brought her flute to her lips again and used Hermes sandals to dodge the metal objects Magneto threw at her. She concentrated on subduing Magneto with her music, and it seemed to be working, but too slowly for Arwen's tastes.

"I'll crush you inside your armor," Magneto yelled. He tried, but nothing happened.

"Sorry, but this metal is impervious to your powers," Arwen said. "It's the metal of the gods."

"That means nothing!" Magneto yelled.

"Then take this," Arwen flew at Magneto and performed a perfect roundhouse kick that Logan had taught her in the beginning of the summer. Magneto fell to the ground, unconscious. "Now would be a very good time to get off this island."

The Professor nodded as everyone began making his or her way across the underwater bridge. Amara and Lance were both near the front with Kitty and Dr. McCoy pointing out where they wanted to bring up more land. After an hour, they finally spotted an island with civilization.

"You're packing?" Kitty asked as she phased into Arwen and Rose's room. Arwen had a bag on her bed and was tightly folding clothes and placing them in her bag. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Maybe," Arwen replied. She looked up and smiled weakly. "After all, I don't think I really belong here. I'm not really a mutant."

"Well, sure you are," Kitty said. "I don't think that your powers are all godlike. I mean, most have to do with music, but you've got one that stands out differently."

"What's that?" Arwen asked.

"You're hearing," Kitty said. "At least, that's what I think. Dr. McCoy said that you had one of the weirdest mutant signatures, that you had, like, two. I think one is mutant and one is goddess."

Arwen smirked. "Part of me still feels I need to speak with my parents about my past, as well as my future."

"Are you going to talk to the Professor?" Kitty asked.

"I already have," Arwen said. "He said I was welcome to make any choice that I feel is best for me."

"Do you think you know what your choice will be?" Kitty asked.

"I kind of hope I'm not doing all this packing for nothing," Arwen said. "Nothing against the X-Men, but I might need some time off."

"Well, keep in touch if you do decide to go," Kitty said as she walked back out.

"Ya'll looks a bit down fer a gal who jest helped save the mutant race," Rogue said as Kitty walked into the room they shared. "What's wrong, Sugah?"

"Did you know that Arwen might be leaving?" Kitty asked.

"That's weird," Rogue said. "She really seemed to like it here ova the summa. Ah wonder what changed her mind."

"I'd say the new information on her father," Kitty said. "I'd like, need some soul-searching too if I learned that my dad was, like, really a god."

"Who wouldn't?" Rogue questioned.

"We had better get ready for more of those team exercises," Kitty sighed. "I can't believe we still have them."

"You all find your centers, yet?" Logan asked.

"As centered as much as I'm ever going to get," Kitty said.

"I agree whole hearted with her," Rose said.

Logan sighed. "Kids," he mumbled. "If you're so ready, close your eyes and block yourselves from these attacks." He pressed a button as the two girls closed their eyes and the rest of the team backed off. Several softballs flew at them from random directions. Rose was hit several times. Kitty allowed them to phase through her and knocked them down once they had passed through her.

"Ah, to be intangible," Kitty smiled.

"You got lucky, Half-Pint," Logan claimed. "You won't always be ready. What are you going to do then?"

"Hope for the best," Kitty said. "Sometimes, Mr. Logan, that's all you really do need."

"That certainly didn't get us off the island, Half-Pint," Logan said. "It was what's in here that did." With that, Logan tapped her head. "Now once again, everyone, find your center."

"I still don't think I can do that," Sam said to Scott as he was trying to get his team to do some simple yoga moves in the back yard. "See, some people just don't bed that way."

"Not if you don't try and work at it," Jean said coming out. "Do you think he could when he first began?"

"He also began at a younger age," Sam said. "When he was a bit more flexible."

"So you'll just have to work extra hard," Arwen said as she finally joined the rest of her team.

"You're late," Scott said frowning at her.

"I'm sorry," Arwen said. "I was just quickly finishing packing some clothes."

"So, it's official?" Jean asked sadly.

"What are you talking about?" Evan asked.

"I might be leaving," Arwen said. She turned back to Jean. "It's not official yet, but if I do leave, I kind of want to be packed."

"I understand," Scott nodded. "We're just picking up where we left off in the woods."

Arwen sat down and began stretching. Sam waited until Scott wasn't paying attention, then leaned toward Arwen. "You're leaving?"

Arwen glanced at him and shrugged sadly. "I don't know for sure yet. The Professor's giving me a day to think about it."

Sam took a breath to say something, but was interrupted by Scott. "Cannonball, you're going to have to straighten your body if you expect to get it right."

"Yes, Sir," Sam said with an exaggerated eye-roll.

"Are your chances of, like, working ruined because of Magneto's ploy?" Kitty asked Lance as the two walked down a street in Bayville during Kitty's break.

"Naw," Lance shook his head. "Your professor's really helping me out with that. Kind of wiped out the memory of me not arriving at work from my boss's mind, as long as I don't ask him for too much more. I guess he really believes that I want to clean my act up."

"Well, you really do, Lance," Kitty said and took his hand. "Right?"

"I want to be someone you'd be proud of, Pretty Kitty," Lance said and smiled at the blue-eyed girl.

"I am, Lance," Kitty said staring him in the eyes.

"I know," Lance said. "But, I kind of feel like I haven't earned it."

"Lance, I like you just the way you are," Kitty insisted.

"At least someone does," Lance said with a light laugh. "But the thing is that I don't. You get me?"

"I think so," Kitty said. "But I don't understand why you're thinking like that." She leaned closer to Lance and rested her head on his shoulder. "So, do you like your apartment?"

"It's great," Lance said. "Well, at least for a nineteen-year-old mutant working at a pizza parlor, it's great. You should come over soon."

"Maybe sometime after school starts," Kitty said. She glanced at her phone to check the time. "I'm due back at the Institute soon for more training with Logan. We're getting the abridged version of what we were supposed to do over the past week."

"Oh, that sucks," Lance said with a wince.

"Totally," Kitty said with a frown.

Lance walked with Kitty until they were at the Institute gates. "I'll see you first day of school," Lance said and he bent down and kissed her lightly, yet passionately.

"I'll miss you," Kitty said with her eyes still closed.

"Sam's totally bummed about Arwen," Ray said to Rose as they stretched before Logan entered the room. After a rather embarrassing episode on the island in which Ray had suddenly stopped running and pulled Rose into a kiss, which she later slapped him for once she had escaped from his grip, the two had decided that, as long as it was between the two of them, it never happened. Both had admitted that they had had a rather abrupt change in feelings toward one another; Duke was blamed.

"Sam's bummed?" Rose asked. "What about me? It's my best friend, not his."

"You going to suggest she stay here then," Ray asked.

"I wish I could," Rose said, "but the Professor asked me not to because it has to be Arwen's decision. And, well, I get what he means. I'm not the one who is more god than human. I can't possibly understand what she feels."

"He really likes her," Kitty asked sitting across from Rose.

"Looks that way," Rose said.

"He's crazy about her," Ray said. "I almost feel bad for him just having to fear that she might leave, not to mention if she actually does leave."

"Hey, Scott," Jean began as she approached the boy behind the red shades. "I've been meaning to ask you something, but if just didn't seem appropriate on the island."

"What is it, Jean?" Scott asked, his voice filled with concern.

"Well, tomorrow I move to Syracuse, and I was hoping you'd come with me to move in," Jean said. "You know, so I don't have to be alone on my first day there."

"Oh, that's absolutely fine," Scott said with a smile. "For a moment there, I was almost worried, but I can't for the life of me tell you what I was worried about."

Jean smiled. "There's no need to be worried," she said calmly. She quickly pecked his cheek with a kiss, and said, "And thank you so much for doing this for me."

"Anytime, Jean," Scott said as she disappeared out the door.

"Ooh," Kurt said with a laugh. "Don't let my presence disturb your happy dreams. Ze fuzzy dude quite enjoyed how your face suddenly matched Jean's hair."

"Paige, you had better call Mom and assure her that you're alright and alive," Jay said as he caught up to her on their way to training with Ms. Munroe. "She kind of freaked when Sam had to tell her you'd been abducted by the enemy."

Paige crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "You guys are idiots," she mumbled. "You don't tell her what really happened. You make up a lie."

"You try that on the spot with Mom looking you in the eye," Jay said. "But, don't forget, you're actually Sam."

"Point taken," Paige said with a nod.

"So, what?" Tabitha asked approaching the two younger mutants from behind. "Your brother doesn't care that you make fun of him behind his back?"

"More like doesn't quite pick it up," Paige said. "Not the brightest boy in the family, if you catch my drift. There's a nice pool going to see who ends up with better common sense, him or our youngest brother Lewis. I put twenty bucks on Lewis."

"Hey, Sam might not be a genius, but he never hit his head on the table more than once in a single day," Jay said. "So my money's on Sam."

"You only put your money on Sam because Jeb did," Paige said.

"Is your family always this interesting?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah," Paige said.

"This is interesting?" Jay asked at the same time.

"Never mind I asked," Tabitha said with her hands up in defense as the two siblings began bickering about the state of their family.

"So, Evan," Kurt came caught up to his exhausted roommate as he headed for the showers. "Do you know who you're asking to ze start of ze year dance ze student council vas promoting at ze end of last year?"

"There's a start of the year dance?" Evan asked. "No, I don't. I'm not even positive if I'm going to school with you guys due to the shell and all."

"Hey, aren't you spending all tomorrow concentrating on not having to walk around with it?" Kurt asked.

"Yeah, but one day isn't going to get rid of it," Evan said.

"I bet zat if you try, you can," Kurt said. "Listen to ze fuzzy one."

"What about you?" Evan asked. "Who are you asking?"

"Oh, uh, I think zat information would be better shared behind closed doors," Kurt said almost stumbling over his words.

"Tabitha?" Evan asked.

"Ja," Kurt said. "Am I really zat obvious?"

"You spent a good deal of time on the island flirting with her," Evan said. "Not that she minded at all."

"Vell, at least I vasn't brainvashed by Mastermind," Kurt said and stuck out his tongue.

"I suggest that the students have their last day before school off so that they can rest their bodies and not develop any more bruises," Professor Xavier said to Logan, Ororo, and Hank. "After all, we would like them to represent the Institute as best as possible tomorrow. I've arranged a ride to pick up Jamie and Jay to take them to their school, and, I believe that if Scott is willing to take a full car of students and Ororo takes a full car of students, we can safely and legally transport the rest to the high school without arousing suspicion or using the X-Van."

"So, the ride for Jamie and Jay, are they aware that the boys are mutants?" Logan asked.

"The driver is," the Professor said. "Her daughter, I don't believe so. Ironically enough, the mother is sure that her daughter is showing signs of a mutation."

"If a kid coughs funny its parents are certain their kid has a mutation now," Logan said. "Usually it's just the kid's smoking finally coming through."

"The child's father is a mutant," the Professor said. "The daughter is unaware of this because her father was careful never to use his powers in front of her. You remember another friend I had on the island. Logan called him Banshee."

"Banshee has a kid that isn't deaf?" Logan asked. "He must have been one careful dad."

"Quite careful," the Professor said. "But the daughter had grown quite a loud voice."

"Are the students aware of how they're getting to school?" Ororo asked the obvious question.

"We'll tell them tomorrow at breakfast," the Professor said. "Before we tell them that they'll have the rest of the day off."

"They look so happy," Emma Frost said as she opened her eyes. "They believe that they're safe and happy. Too bad they have yet to take on the full force of my Hellions in a fair battle. But there are many of them. Too many, I fear. But the Brotherhood seems to be without guidance once again. I can change that, I suppose."

"You want us to serve you?" Pietro asked, before laughing. "What makes you think we want to be Hellions?"

"Speak for yourself, Speedy," Tip said. "I think the idea's fabulous. It does come with a paycheck, right?"

"Something along those lines," Emma said. "I just thought you all would like to eat and have toiletries and utilities."

"Frost does have a point, yo," Todd said.

"And I am getting kind of hungry," Fred said.

"And the Brotherhood title has lost its charm," Nick said. "'I'm from the Brotherhood' isn't as intimidating as 'I'm a Hellion.'"

Pietro looked at the rest of his teammates. "What do you say, Duke?"

"I'm just crashing here because I need a place to stay," he replied. "If it comes with a title, that's fine with me."

"Then your training begins tomorrow," Emma said and disappeared.

* * *

**Well, that's the end of this story. Keep an eye out for my next one, _High School Never Ends_. For the most part, the whole series I'm writing will focus on Arwen, Rose, Sam, Bobby, Rebecca, and **K**itty, keeping track of the rest of the other characters as well.**


	13. AN

**The first chapter of High School Never Ends has been posted!! Check it out.**  



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